Common Factors in Couple and Family Therapy: The Overlooked Foundation for Effective Practice by Douglas H. Sprenkle, PhD Jay L. Lebow PhD, Sean D. Davis - 9781606233252 - Compare Prices on New & Used Textbooks, Cheap Textbooks

Grounded in theory, research, and extensive clinical experience, this pragmatic book addresses critical questions of how change occurs in couple and family therapy and how to help clients achieve better results. The authors show that regardless of a clinician’s orientation or favored techniques, there are particular therapist attributes, relationship variables, and other factors that make therapy—specifically, therapy with couples and families—effective. The book explains these common factors in depth and provides hands-on guidance for capitalizing on them in clinical practice and training. User-friendly features include numerous case examples and a reproducible common factors checklist.

		Common Factors in Couple and Family Therapy: The Overlooked Foundation for Effective Practice by Douglas H. Sprenkle PhD, Sean D. Davis, Jay L. Lebow PhD ISBN-10: 9781606233252 ISBN-10: 1-60623-325-4 ISBN-13: 9781606233252 ISBN-13: 978-1-60623-325-2 Hardcover 2009-08-10 The Guilford Press Find Lowest Price
Editorials

Product Description Grounded in theory, research, and extensive clinical experience, this pragmatic book addresses critical questions of how change occurs in couple and family therapy and how to help clients achieve better results. The authors show that regardless of a clinician’s orientation or favored techniques, there are particular therapist attributes, relationship variables, and other factors that make therapy—specifically, therapy with couples and families—effective. The book explains these common factors in depth and provides hands-on guidance for capitalizing on them in clinical practice and training. User-friendly features include numerous case examples and a reproducible common factors checklist.
Reviews

fantastic for new therapist! i had to read this book for my mft theory course. i love the common factors approach!!
Common Factors in Relational Therapy The major strength of this book is that it is the first of its kind in marriage and family therapy. It does a very good job of summarizing all of the existing literature (e.g., journal articles and psychotherapy books), so if you haven't read much on common factors, this will be a great book for you. If you have a solid understanding of common factors, this can still be a very good book, but I wouldn't expect anything new or groundbreaking. The authors acknowledge that a great deal more research is needed to truly understand common factors, but they do a good job of presenting the information that currently exists. Some of the information you will gain from this book is (1) an understanding of how common factors influence relational therapy; (2) the history of common factors in other fields; (3) a few specific common factors that have been studied more than others (e.g., therapeutic alliance, client motivation); and (4) how a common factors approach/framework can influence clinical work with couples and families. Overall, I highly recommend the book. It has a strong clinical focus with vignettes that illustrate specific principles. If you're a researcher, this book can still be useful, but you won't find a lot of research implications explicitly stated. By reading about the current limitations of common factors research that are discussed in the book, you can glean some of the information, but don't expect the authors to outline many potential research avenues. The only critique I have is that the ideas in the book were just a little more fragmented than I had hoped. In other words, when I think of understanding a framework, I think of being able to get a seamless and flowing explanation of a topic. I don't feel like I was able to say at the end of the book, "Okay, now I really understand all of the ins and outs of a common factors framework." I must admit this could be no fault of the authors. It simply could be a result of the fact that the literature in this area is fairly new and more research is needed. Also, the flip side is that the information in each chapter does a pretty good job of standing alone. You don't necessarily need to read the whole book to understand what each chapter is explaining. Nonetheless, that is my only real critique. Overall, I think individuals, especially clinicians, who want to learn more about common factors will enjoy this book.