Product Description

This book presents an innovative model for the treatment of clients with alcohol and substance abuse problems. For the first time, the goals and methods of harm reduction are incorporated into a multidimensional psychotherapeutic approach.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #221087 in Books
• Published on: 2004-09-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 262 pages

Review
This courageous and compellingly honest book is at once a professional autobiography, a primer on addictive behavior, a casebook, a reminder about the basics of the psychotherapeutic relationship, and a call to action. Denning is a mature clinician who shares with us the process and fruits of her development as a psychotherapist specializing in addiction and multidiagnosis clients. To replace the outdated conception of addiction as a disease, she explicates harm reduction psychotherapy, an invaluable, empirically supported, practical, and flexible alternative. All practicing psychotherapists need to be familiar with it. - A. Thomas Horvath, President, Practical Recovery Services, La Jolla, California

An excellent and long overdue work. While interest in harm reduction has burgeoned over the past decade, relevant professional resources have barely kept up with the pace. This book is highly integrative and inclusive, inspired by the disciplines of public health, cognitive-behavioral therapy, personality theory, traditional addiction treatment, motivational interviewing, relapse prevention, and more. Denning makes extensive use of case examples, and these examples reveal that she is a seasoned, well-informed clinician. Along with clinical success stories, she courageously presents the 'failures' that led her to the practice of harm reduction psychotherapy. Clinicians will recognize their own patients (and clinical struggles), and they will learn harm reduction strategies that make sense. I recommend this book to anyone interested in addiction treatment. - Bruce S. Liese, Professor of Family Medicine and Psychiatry, University of Kansas Medical Center

For too long, practitioners have worked out of extremist, 'all or nothing' models whose strategies have proven to be unsuccessful with most clients who come to us with problems and also happen to use drugs or alcohol. Based in research data and clinical experience, Denning's model truly reflects client-driven therapeutic practices and interventions....Liberally peppered with case vignettes, the book provides a full 'tool kit' of strategies and interventions to help clients maximize their health, happiness, and contentment with their lives. - Edith Springer, ACSW, Harm Reduction Training Institute, New York City

This book provides a blueprint for therapists who wish to provide...an integrated approach to the treatment of a variety of addictive behaviors, with or without the co-occurrence of other psychological or behavioral disorders. For the first time, clients who wish to receive therapy to help them cope with an ongoing alcohol or other drug problem will not be turned away at the door by either substance abuse counselors (who insist upon abstinence as the only acceptable treatment goal) or by mental health therapists (who often refer active drug users to substance abuse treatment before they will accept them for psychotherapy)....Denning provides a trail-blazing journey into the new world of harm reduction therapy. - from the Foreword by G. Alan Marlatt, University of Washington

From the Back Cover
Demonstrating that traditional approaches to addictions fall short for many substance abusers with psychological problems, this book shows how effective therapeutic work can be conducted with clients still using alcohol or other drugs. For the first time, the goals and methods of harm reduction are incorporated into a comprehensive psychotherapeutic approach - one that can be initiated without waiting for, or insisting on, abstinence. Clinicians learn concrete strategies for assessing the client's personality, behaviors, and resources; enhancing motivation for change; making collaborative treatment decisions; and implementing a range of different interventions.

About the Author
Patt Denning, PhD, is Director of Clinical Services and Training at the Harm Reduction Therapy Center, San Francisco. Widely recognized as an expert on drug treatment and dual diagnosis, she is one of the main developers of harm reduction psychotherapy.