Counselling for Psychosomatic Problems (Counselling in Practice series) Book

New approaches from cognitive therapy have made significant advances towards helping clients with psychosomatic problems. This practical and comprehensive guide describes a cognitive way of working with clients who present for counselling with physical symptoms, but where psychological issues or problems are causing or maintaining those symptoms.The author looks at what is meant by psychosomatic problems, discussing the difficulties in clearly defining whether an illness is physical or psychological, and the further difficulties inherent in working with clients who may not see the relevance of counselling to their somatic problems. With illustrations of common somatic problems - such as atypical chest pain - Diana Sanders covers the factors that maintain the problems and the client's schema, beliefs and assumptions that may underlie them. She takes the reader through the different stages of the counselling process, explains the psychological categories and terminology used to describe this client group, and addresses key counselling issues in working with them. These issues include: how to engage clients in counselling; how to work with clients to formulate and conceptualize their problems; how to develop counselling goals with clients; and how to help clients work towards those goals.This clearly-written book is accessible to all counsellors, clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, nurses and other medical professionals who may find this particular client group difficult to help within traditional medical practice.Read More