Cognitive Behaviour Therapy - recommended books on?

e-quill

I am currently writing a sequel to a previous book about an ex soldier with post traumatic stress disorder [PTSD]. I am up to speed on PTSD itself but not its treatment, and my sequel is largely about his treatment for PTSD. I'm not a 'psychologist' or therapist of any sort, although I have a degree in rats-in-boxes type psych. and am au fait with the general literature. Unless someone can convince me of the error of my ways, I want to address my character's PTSD through Cognitive Behaviour Therapy [CBT]. Problem; I know next to nothing about CBT.

Question: Can you recommend a good book [or website] on CBT?

'Good book' obviously begs a number of other questions but what I mean is a book written by a practitioner or professional rather than a wannabe or amateur; of a predominantly practical nature rather than mere theorizing; and one that includes case studies.

If you know of a good/useful website I would be very grateful for the URL. I have visited the following;

http://ptsd.about.com
http://www.ptsd.va.gov
http://www.nimh.nih.gov
http://www.plosmedicine.org
http://helpguide.org
http://www.combatstress.org.uk

Apologies if this is in the wrong place! 'Resources' and 'news and queries' both sounded possible. Many thanks for any help/advice. Have searched this forum but the search engine returns 'webpage not responding'

dorothyd

welcome to TB. Someone might be able to help but it's a bit outside my scope for a start.

Otherwise I would recommend you run searches on Amazon with that as the subject or abebooks.com ditto.

Jenny

Hi e-quill - welcome to Talkback!

I've just asked one of our daughters who has degrees in psychology and she recommended:

1. The book "CBT for Dummies".

2. Googling EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) - this was used for people with PTSD at a mental health hospital where she worked for a while.

Carol

Hello e-quill.
Hope you find what you are looking for.

lexia

Hello e-quill. I don't recommend any books - but I have had some CBT therapy myself and could give you a "first hand experience" run down of what it entailed for me if that's any use.
It wasn't right for me, but that's not the issue.

(I am not an ex-soldier but imagine that PTSD has the same symptoms whatever the stress)

Dwight

Sorry I can't help, e-quill. Hi. My first inclination would be to google key words and see which sites come up. You'll have pages and pages. Google has been the answer to a lot of research needs for me.

ginab

A friend of mine was studying CBT and she lent me CBT for Dummies other than that I can't help sorry but best of luck.

e-quill

Maybe I should have mentioned I already have the Dummies CBT - and their CBT Workbook. I was hoping there was something better available! And maybe I should have underlined the word 'recommend' i.e. from personal experience, having read the book. Thanks for the posts.

dorothyd

It's a very specialised subject, e-quill, not many people would have delved into that and remained sane, methinks. Hope it works out for you.

thaddeus

Hello there

A few years back I began studying this type of therapy with view to a change of career, at the same time I did a course in biz admin and word processing, I only wanted the typing to be honest. Anyhow the course was open to people who had not worked (officially) for 6 months which meant a lot of misfits who couldn't get work or hold a job were there.
It was widely known that I was into counselling and by chance a chap who turned out to have full blown post traumatic lived near me and was having transport problems. -So I gave him a lift each day. ..And we talked.

It soon became obvious that I was out of my league, but having uncorked the genie it wasn't going back into the bottle. This got a bit scary at times and if you want to hear about him and my take on the process I would be happy to unload. If nothing else some of the things he said and did would fit your character. Eg.Stole his service rifle, and went on patrol at night with full kit in the local woods.

e-quill

Thanks for the offer Thaddeus. I've had a few pointers on this from one place and another so I'll just immerse myself in a bit of CBT for the time being. For my character's symptoms of his particular problems/PTSD I can rely on my imagination. After all, who knows better than I what my character does or does not do? But when it comes to his CBT I need/want to avoid making actual errors - hence the need for a book. Or two. His therapist is supposed to be something of an expert. Thanks for the help.

thaddeus

I am beating my brain to remember the name of the books we worked from.

If you know the symptoms then great, i can only relate what I know of the chap I met. Which was 'interesting'.

I can however tell you how I responded to him. Much of what CBT is about is working with your own emotional response to a person and their behaviour or words. You get them to unload the baggage and diffuse the internal time-bomb safely. You listen to the little things or the absence of. Having gotten a model of what is going on, you sort of try to 'hook' the part of his character that you want talk to, and work with them.
One thing which compounds the process is that your average squadie is not likely to take kindly to being told that counselling is what he needs. ' I'm not mad' is the usual response. An emotional damaged and defensive squadie may well take a swing at you.
Good luck with it all, my offer is always open.

Lolli

Hi. I have 'done' CBT partly in my Degree, but also as a victim of mental illness. One of the books recommended for us 'victims' was 'Mind over Mood', by dennis Greenberger and Christine PAdesky. It gives the sort of exercises that people using CBT to change their lives do, so is probably the best sort of thing for your Character

e-quill

Thanks, Lolli, for Greenberger and Padesky. You are the second person to recommend 'Mind Over Mood' and I am in the process of getting hold of a copy. In case anyone else treads the same path, since my original posting, I have found 'The Stress of Combat' by Roy Brook [1999] of interest on the background to PTSD among servicemen, 'Overcoming Traumatic Stress' by Claudia Herbert and Ann Wetmore [1999] of considerable use, and am just reading 'Overcoming Sexual Problems' by Vicki Ford which, along with the previous, is one of a number of books in the 'Overcoming' series published by Robinson being "self-help guides using CBT".

As further background on PTSD among servicemen I will try and get hold of the following:

Ahrenfelt, R. H.: Psychiatry in the Brit Army in the 2nd W.W [1958]
Dyke, Capt. David Hart RN: article in ‘King George’s Fund for Sailors Review’ [April and July 1991]
Fergusson, Bernard: Beyond the Chindwin [1957]
Herbert, A.P.: ‘The Secret Battle’ Based on death of Sub-Lieut Edwin Dyett executed for cowardice Christmas 1916.
Hughes, Steven: Inside Madness British Med. Journal. [Vol 301 Dec 1990]
McLaughlan, Redmond: The Royal Army Medical Corps [1971]
McManners, Hugh: The Scars of War [Gulf War]
Moore, William: ‘The Thin Yellow Line’ 1974
O’Brien, L.S. and Hughes, S.J.: ‘Symptoms of PTSD in Falklands Veterans Five Years After Conflict’. B.J.P. [vol 159 1991
Sargent, William: The Battle for the Mind [1957]
Stewart, Lt-Col Bob: Broken Lives [Balkans]
Whitely, J.S., and Gordon, John: Group Approaches in Psychiatry 1979.
Southborough Enquiry
‘Handbook of Army Health 1950’ War Office Code No. 5691-1
Report of the War Office Committee of Enquiry into Shell Shock HMSO 1922

Daisy

I'm not sure what I'd recommend. You could try contacting BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy) or one of the mental health charities such as MIND. I haven't looked but the MIND website might recommend something.