• 2012 94pp paperback ISBN:
9781568871271
Taking care of yourself as a therapist both personally and professionally is vital to your ability to help others. Dr. Ludgate discusses the signs of possible stress/burnout in mental health practitioners and provides a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy model of distress in therapists. He then presents a variety of common situations where stress can often be elevated in the therapist and gives a number of CBT strategies for coping with and reducing this distress so you can become more therapeutically effective.
Reviews
"In the event of cabin depressurization, airline flight attendants instruct us to place the oxygen masks on ourselves first before assisting our young children. Taking care of ourselves is vital to helping others. Dr. John Ludgate teaches us just how to take care of ourselves in this outstanding little book, Heal Your Self. This is a wonderful guide for developing skills to detect and to deal with daily emotional challenges of being a psychotherapist. I read this book once and I will surely read it again and again. This is a must read for all psychotherapists."
-Frank M. Dattilio, PhD, ABPP, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA: Co-author of Cognitive Therapy With Couples
"Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is an empirically supported treatment for almost every psychological disorder and its principles have been applied to a diverse range of problems and situations. Based on a model of coping, mental health providers teach patients how to more effectively cope. In Dr. John Ludgate's book, Heal Your Self, he has creatively applied the principles of CBT to help therapists cope more successfully with their own work related stress. His wise and practical guide equips mental health professionals to recognize, address, and free themselves of unnecessary distress. Dr. Ludgate immediately engages the reader by using his own personal illustrations as well as helpful examples of other professionals. This book is an invaluable tool for every mental health provider."
-Leslie Sokol, PhD, Co-author of Think Confident, Be Confident; Past President, Credentialing Chair: Academy of Cognitive Therapy
Table of Contents
Dedication
Introduction
The Extent of the Problem / Signs of Possible Stress/Burnout in Mental Health Practitioners
A Cognitive Behavioral Model of Distress in Therapists
Trigger Situations / Background Stressors / Beliefs / Cognitive Distortions / Automatic Thoughts / Emotional and Behavioral Reactions / Examples of Therapist Reactions
Conceptualization of Distress in Mental Health Providers
Client-related Stressors / Nonclient Work Stressors / Personal Characteristics of Therapists / Belief Systems of Therapists / Coping Strategies / Nonwork Stressors / Training Inadequacies / Lack of Organizational Support
CBT Strategies to Reduce Therapist Distress
General Guidelines for Therapists Who Work With Challenging Cases
Specific CBT Interventions
Recognizing
Early Warning Signals (Personal Indicators of Distress (Form) /
Identifying Characteristic Stressors / What Are Some Stressors /
Triggers That Stress/Distress Me in the Workplace? (Form) / Identifying
Dysfunctional Thinking / Identifying Thoughts (Form) / Identifying the
Effects of Thinking / Analyzing the Effects of Thoughts/Beliefs (Form) /
Identifying Distortions / Cognitive Distortions (Nine Ways to Make Yourself Miserable) (Form) /
Recognizing Distortions in Thinking (Form) / Testing the Evidence /
Reviewing the Evidence (Form) / Generating
Alternative Viewpoints / Generating Alternatives (Form) /
Decatastrophizing and De-awfulizing / Decatastrophizing (Form) / Putting
It All Together (ADAPT) / ADAPT Questionnaire (Form) / General Guidelines for Distress Reduction in the Workplace / A Final Word
About the Author
John W. Ludgate, PhD, completed his clinical
psychology training at the University of Edinburgh (Scotland) in 1976.
After receiving his doctorate from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland,
he earned a Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Cognitive Therapy at the
University of Pennsylvania. In 1986, he became the Assistant Director
of Training at the Center for Cognitive Therapy in Philadelphia, a
position he held for 2 years. Dr. Ludgate was appointed Research
Clinical Psychologist in the Anxiety Disorders Clinic at the University
of Oxford (England) in 1992, serving until 1994. He has published a
number of articles and book chapters on cognitive therapy and, with Dr.
Aaron Beck, co-authored a book on inpatient cognitive therapy in 1992.
Dr. Ludgate currently works at the Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Center
of Western North Carolina in Asheville, North Carolina. The author
presents seminars and workshops on both national and international
conferences as well as co-directing an intensive 6-month
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Training course in Asheville, North
Carolina. Dr.
Ludgate can be reached through his website at: https://www.behaviortherapist.com/about/ludgate.htm
[ITEMPRICE]