1st Edition

Transactional Analysis for Depression A step-by-step treatment manual

By Mark Widdowson Copyright 2016
    222 Pages 11 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    222 Pages 11 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Transactional Analysis for Depression is the first research-based, transactional analysis psychotherapy manual. Developed from the author’s research into TA therapy for depression, the book also draws upon a wide range of contemporary research findings relating to depression and its treatment. Mark Widdowson provides the reader with a solid understanding about the nature of depression and clear guidance about how to provide effective psychotherapy for depressed clients.

    The book is a step-by-step guide to therapy, from the point of first contact through to ending, and covers:

    The theory and practice of TA therapy

    Understanding factors which maintain depression

    Conceptualising depression using Transactional Analysis

    Original material on the mechanisms of therapeutic change

    Optimising the psychotherapy process

    Key therapeutic processes in the therapy of depression

    Tailoring the therapy to client needs

    An introduction to neuroscience and the medical treatment of depression

    Complete with an additional resources section, including downloadable material designed to be given to clients to enhance the therapeutic process and strengthen the working alliance, Transactional Analysis for Depression provides structured, practical guidance to TA theory for therapists in practice and training.

    Introduction. Section One. The Theory and Practice of Transactional Analysis Psychotherapy. Understanding Depression. Depressogenic Processes. Conceptualising Depression Using TA Theory. Basic Technique in TA Therapy. Therapeutic Processes and Change Mechanisms. Section Two. Structure of Therapy and the Initial Phase of Therapy. Key Therapeutic Processes. Section Three. A Primer on the Brain and the Neuroscience of Depression. Medical Treatment for Depression. Conclusion.

    Biography

    Mark Widdowson is a Teaching and Supervising Transactional Analyst and a UKCP Registered Psychotherapist. He is a lecturer in counselling and psychotherapy at the University of Salford and lives in Manchester, where he also has a small psychotherapy practice. .

    "Firmly based on research results, Mark Widdowson's book offers health professionals a clearly structured, step-by-step procedure for the effective treatment of depression. It provides a valuable practical resource for all therapists and counsellors working in this field." – Ian Stewart, Co-Director, The Berne Institute, Nottingham

    "Widdowson... offers an elegant presentation of Berne's development of TA theory... As I read Transactional Analysis for Depression I found myself thinking what good revision it offered for much of the TA I Have learnt and that I have forgotten... [The] skill of this book is that all of those nuggests of information, all of those pieces of TA theory you may have forgotten that you know, are all presented within a coherent and sequential framework designed to help the client with depression...I do enjoy an author who both challenges my thinking and suggests new areas for my curiousity. Widdowson does just this many times...  The author manages to capture much of what may not be obviously considered... The book is littered with practical therapeutic nuggets... [There] is much in this step-by-step guide, and as the author suggests, it is for the reader to be flexible and creative with the material offered... I have found this book a really helpful and structured way of bringing TA theory to working with depression. Widdowson has taken many of the familiar and comprehensive range of TA theories and models and laid them out in an approach that is structured and accessible, in order to illustrate how to work with depression." - John Paradise, Transactional Analysis psychotherapist, UK, The Transactional Analyst