Books for Therapists of
Children, Adolescents, Families and Adults

Books for Therapists

The following books have a solid reputation as being incredibly helpful for any clinician working with kids and their parents.  They have proven themselves over time and with experience.  These publications are recommended for consideration of therapists looking for practical resources that are useful for themselves and their clients. 

Links are offered to make purchase of these publications easy.  Amazon is the vendor selected for these links.  They offer lists of books with related topics, as well as books that are purchased by people buying the recommended one.  Many other vendors are available for purchase, but Barnes and Noble has the recommended books and textbooks available, and is a reliable, well known source.


The first comprehensive presentation for clinicians of the groundbreaking approach popularized in Ross Greene's acclaimed parenting guide, The Explosive Child, this book provides a detailed framework for effective, individualized intervention with highly oppositional children and their families. Many vivid examples and Q&A sections show how to identify the specific cognitive factors that contribute to explosive and noncompliant behavior, remediate these factors, and teach children and their adult caregivers how to solve problems collaboratively. The book also describes challenges that may arise in implementing the model and provides clear and practical solutions. Two special chapters focus on intervention in schools and in therapeutic/restrictive facilities.


Defiant Teens. This authoritative manual presents an accessible 18-step program widely used by clinicians working with challenging teens. Steps 1-9 comprise parent training strategies for managing a broad range of problem behaviors, including those linked to oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Steps 10-18 focus on teaching all family members to negotiate, communicate, and problem-solve more effectively, while facilitating adolescents' individuation and autonomy.

This Authoritative manual presents an 18-step program designed both to teach parents the skills they need to manage difficult adolescent behavior and to improve family relationships overall.  The first nine steps of the program modify the approach presented in Russell A. Barkley's DEFIANT CHILDREN, SECOND EDITION, to focus on developmental concerns of adolescence.  The author's delineate clear procedures for assessing defiance in teens and working with parents, alone or in groups, to reverse problem behavior.  Steps 10 though 18 are conducted with parents and teenagers together, utilizing a proven family therapy model developed by Arthur L. Robin and Sharon Foster.  Clinicians are shown how to help all family members learn to negotiate, communicate, and problem-solve more effectively, while facilitating adolescents' individuation and autonomy.  Featuring a lay-flat binding for ease of photocopying, the book includes reproducible forms that enable clinicians to gauge the nature, diversity, and severity of parent-adolescent conflicts; assess for oppositional defiant disorder (OOD); and evaluate parental psychological adjustment.  Reproducible handouts for families reinforce crucial ideas and skills imparted in-session.


Don't Panic. The authority on panic and anxiety—newly revised and expanded

Are you one of the more than nineteen million Americans who suffer from anxiety? Don’t panic. Newly revised and expanded, this edition offers a straightforward and remarkably effective self-help program for overcoming panic and coping with anxious fears. With insight and compassion, Reid Wilson, Ph.D., demystifies anxiety attacks and provides indispensable advice, including:

  • how a panic attack happens, what causes it, and how it can affect your life
  • how to recognize, manage, and control the moment of panic
  • how to control the chronic muscle tensions that increase anxiety
  • how to conquer fear and face problems with confidence
  • how to decide which medication is right for you
  • how to establish reachable goals and rediscover the joy of living

Almost everyone has experienced it at one time or another, but in the form of a panic attack, it can be incapacitating.  In Don't Panic, a leading expert offers an accessible and practical self-help program for reducing and eliminating these attacks.  With insight and compassion, he explains how attacks occur, provides a detailed 5-step strategy for controlling the moment of panic and shows how to use breathing exercises, focused thinking and mental imagery to elicit the body's natural "Calming Response." Packed with useful information that can begin reducing the power of these attacks immediately, this book, a perennial seller, is an invaluable tool for the millions of Americans coping with this crippling condition. 


Come to terms with your past while moving powerfully into the future

The Courage to Heal is an inspiring, comprehensive guide that offers hope and a map of the healing journey to every woman who was sexually abused as a child—and to those who care about her. Although the effects of child sexual abuse are long-term and severe, healing is possible.

Weaving together personal experience with professional knowledge, the authors provide clear explanations, practical suggestions, and support throughout the healing process. Readers will feel recognized and encouraged by hundreds of moving first-person stories drawn from interviews and the authors' extensive work with survivors, both nationally and internationally.

This completely revised and updated 20th anniversary edition continues to provide the compassionate wisdom the book has been famous for, as well as many new features:

  • Contemporary research on trauma and the brain
  • An overview of powerful new healing tools such as imagery, meditation, and body-centered practices
  • Additional stories that reflect an even greater diversity of survivor experiences
  • The reassuring accounts of survivors who have been healing for more than twenty years
  • The most comprehensive, up-to-date resource guide in the field
  • Insights from the authors' decades of experience

Cherished by survivors, and recommended by therapists and institutions everywhere, The Courage to Heal has often been called the bible of healing from child sexual abuse. This new edition will continue to serve as the healing beacon it has always been.

Definitive in scope, The Courage to Heal speaks directly to the survivor in a warm and personal way.

TAKING STOCK -- outlines the effects of child sexual abuse and the ways women cope over time.  THE HEALING PROCESS -- explores each stage from the decision to heal and remembering through breaking silence, knowing it wasn't your fault, nurturing the inner child, and grief and anger, to resolution and moving on.  CHANGING PATTERS -- offers in-depth guidance for shifting self-defeating patterns in specific areas of one's present life, including self-esteem, feelings, intimacy, sexuality and dealing with families.  SUPPORTERS OF SURVIVORS -- provides insight and strategies for partners of survivors, family members, and counselors.  COURAGEOUS WOMEN -- profiles survivors who share the challenges and triumphs of their own healing journeys.  HONORING THE TRUTH -- a substantial new Afterword that refuses the "false memory" argument and presents a thorough and enlightening response to the backlash.  RESOURCE GUIDE -- fully updated for this edition -- informs readers about therapy, healing activities, recommended reading, support groups, self-help programs, and services and organizations.

Annotation: Takes survivors step-by step through healing process thru use of checklists, open-ended questions, writing exercises, etc.

From the Publisher: In this groundbreaking companion to "The Courage to Heal", Laura Davis offers an inspiring, in-depth workbook that speaks to all women and men healing from the effects of child sexual abouse.  The combination of checklists, writing and art projects, open-ended questions and activities expertly guides the survivor through the healing process.

Survival Skills -- Teaches survivors to create a safe, supportive environment, ask for help, deal with crisis periods, and choose therapy.  Aspects of Healing -- Focuses on the healing process: gaining a capacity for hope, breaking silence, letting go of shame, turning anger into action, planning a confrontation, preparing for family contact, and affirming personal progress.  Guidelines For Healing sexually -- Redefines the concept of "safe sex" and establishes healthy ground rules for sexual conduct.


Beginning to Heal. There's nothing as wonderful as starting to heal, waking up in the morning and knowing that nobody can hurt you if you don't let them.

Beginning to Heal offers hope and guidance for all survivors starting the healing journey. No matter how great your pain today, you can not only heal but thrive. Based on the authors' bestseller The Courage to Heal, this Revised Edition of Beginning to Heal takes you through the key stages of the healing process, from crisis times to breaking the silence, grief, and anger, to resolution and moving on. It includes inspirational highlights, clear explanations, practical suggestions, and compelling accounts of survivors' pain, their strength, and their triumphs.


Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder includes the latest findings on the nature, diagnosis, assessment, and treatment of ADHD...with selected chapters written by experts in the field, providing clear guidelines for practice in clinical, school, and community settings.

This new second edition incorporates the latest findings on the nature, diagnosis, assessment, and treatment of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). As in the previous edition, Dr. Barkley includes contributions from other leading scientist-practitioners, who report on their respective areas of expertise.  Readers of this book will find current, practical information on nearly every aspect of the disorder.  In-depth assessment and treatment guidelines are supported by updated documentation on outcomes, and three new chapters focus specifically on adults.

Note:  Practitioners wishing to implement the assessment and treatment recommendations delineated in the Handbook are advised to purchase the companion workbook, which contains a full set of forms, questionnaires, and handouts, in a large-size format with permission to photocopy.