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The Couples Psychotherapy Treatment Planner, by K. Daniel OLeary, Richard E. Heyman, and Arthur E. jongsma, Jr. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1998, 262 pp., $39.95.
This book is intended to provide practicing clinicians with guidelines for formulating clear, specific treatment plans for addressing a variety of common presenting problems in couple therapy. The authors describe the necessity of detailed written treatment goals and plans, not only to maximize treatment effectiveness for clients, but also to meet the requirements of managed care. The introduction to the book describes steps in developing a treatment plan (selecting a few key problems, defining specific behavioral symptoms of each problem, setting broad long-term goals for resolving each problem, stating measurable objectives for behavior change, selecting at least one intervention per objective, and determining a DSM-IV diagnosis that fits the symptoms). The book includes 31 chapters addressing a wide range of presenting problems, such as alcohol abuse, anger, blame, blended-family problems, communication, depression, disillusionment with one's relationship, eating disorders, infidelity, job stress,...