Essential Research Findings in Counselling and Psychotherapy: The Facts are Friendly: Amazon.co.uk: Mick Cooper: Books

Review

"This is an interesting book that will appeal to a wide-ranging audience as it brings together, in a clear and accessible manner, the best available research with clinical expertise, to address the important question of whether psychotherapy helps people make changes and if so, how. It is definitely worth reading."

Person-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapies, 2010

"Mick Cooper's book is an ambitious endeavour, beautifully executed and an easy read...[it] is a brave, complex venture made readily digestible. It is well worth not just reading but using."

British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, May 2010

"This unique and excellent book from Mick Cooper is a gem right down to its thoughtful and tantalizing cover...Mick Cooper has risen to the challenge of giving us a research findings text that is respectful of a wide range of therapies and is accessible to anyone within the profession. It's a cliche, but this book should be on the shelf of any therapist interested in good, research-based, practice. The sub-title certainly held true for me. The facts really are friendly."

International Transactional Analysis News, 2010

"Mick Cooper's book cuts through the often hyperbolic claims and counter claims of the psychological therapies and has produced a clear guide to the current state of knowledge about what works. Summarising and describing effectively the key findings from the field, his guide is essential reading for practitioners, service providers and people who want evidence to support their choice of therapist."

Jonathan Coe, Chief Executive, Witness

"Beautifully done - clear and to the point. The book separates the wheat from the chaff wonderfully well."

David Cain, editor of Humanistic Psychotherapies: Handbook of Research and Practice (PCCS Books, 2002)

"READ THIS BOOK! This is an excellent account of all the core issues in therapy research."

Norman Claringbull, What is counselling and psychotherapy? (Learning Matters, 2010)

"Essential reading for trainers, trainees, practitioners and those involved in counselling and psychotherapy research...The success of Cooper’s work lies in its clarity, accessibility and user friendliness. In each chapter key points are summarised. Technical terms highlighted, recommended reading indicated and implications for practice signposted."

Andy Hill, Senior Lecturer in Counselling at the University of Salford and Primary Care Psychological Therapist for Bolton PCT

"So well written and laid out that it makes a rattling good read...Every counsellor and therapist should have a copy of this book"

Eisteach, Irish Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy

"Fantastic...it will definitely be recommended reading for our students" Dr. Darren Langdridge, The Open University

"A phenomenal book"

Scott D. Miller, Ph.D., Co-founder of the Centre for Clinical Excellence

"Research reports do not usually make for riveting reading, so I had expected this book to be rather dry. However, nothing could be further from the truth as Mick Cooper has managed to create a text that is interesting and informative as well as engaging...certainly deserves a place on every counsellor and psychotherapist’s bookshelf"

Therapy Today, March 2009

"Hard to put down...a superb job in drawing together such a wide body of information and synthesizing it in a manner that regular 'Joes' like me can understand."

Bill Matthews, Trainer and Therapist

"A great contribution to the literature."

Colin Lago

"A great resource for therapists and a tremendous achievement to have pullled all this often complex information together in such an accessible way."

Joe Armstrong, Lecturer in Counselling, University of Abertay

"A remarkable summary of findings and their implications for practice as we enter the 21st century."

Prof Michael J. Lambert, Brigham Young University

"A fantastic accomplishment. Mick Cooper brings together a vast amount of material in a relevant and interesting way."

Prof John McLeod, Professor of Counselling, University of Abertay Dundee

'The publication of this book couldn’t be more timely… Mick Cooper has a wonderful ability to write about complex things in a clear accessible way"

Laurie Clark, CEO of British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy

Product Description

Are some therapies more effective than others? How important is the relationship? Which clients do best in therapy?

Essential Research Findings in Counselling and Psychotherapy answers these questions and many more, providing trainees, practitioners and researchers with a comprehensive introduction to the latest findings in the field. The book sets out in a jargon-free way the evidence for the effectiveness of therapy and the factors associated with positive therapeutic outcomes. It gives suggestions for further reading, definitions of key terms and questions for discussion, making this an ideal text for use in training.

The book is also designed for practitioners who increasingly need to justify their therapeutic work on empirical grounds. Essential Research Findings in Counselling and Psychotherapy gives them the knowledge and confidence to do just that. More than that, it makes research findings accessible and provides information on how to practice counselling and psychotherapy in an effective way.

Watch Mick Cooper talking about this book on YouTube:

To view the Part 1 - Click Here

To view the Part 2 - Click Here

To view the Part 3 - Click Here

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful

A really good reference book for students and practitioners. 25 Mar 2009

By Helen Wilde

Format:Paperback

I wish this book had been around when I was studying for my MSc a couple of years ago, it makes light work of trawling through stacks of papers to find the most relevant and up to date research on counselling and psychotherapy. It's a good source of information if you are preparing a presentation, writing a paper or if you need to know more about the very wide range of therapeutic approaches that are around. I have used it to save time, cutting through the dross and get to the stuff you want to know about; when you've used this to get to the 'important bits' you can then go on to read in full the most relevant research in full.

Things I like about this book:
The size of it, most books about research are hefty and off putting just by their size
The way it is set out, giving a thesaurus, references and having sub-sections which address tricky or complicated questions as each subject is covered such as, `therapists who use touch`.
That it addresses the currently very popular issue being asked by fund holders, "what's the evidence base for this approach (practice)?" (Not that most of the people who ask this question actually know what the answers they are given mean for clients and therapists)
It starts by explaining research methods and how to understand research findings
It is a comprehensive review and summary of current research findings
It is not written in a `glossed over' way that some research reviews are, when research is poor or patchy the author says so and gives explanations as to why.

For a Professor I think the author, Mick Cooper, has kept his feet on the ground and written a book that students and experienced professionals will find valuable and informative. It is written in plain English and with a healthy pinch of humour that means it's easy to read whilst addressing complicated topics such as making sense of qualitative and quantitative research findings. Also, if you are thinking about seeking a therapist yourself and want to research what approach best fits for you this book will give you sound information to help you decide.

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

Probably the best introduction to counselling research 19 Aug 2010

By Mr. A. C. Thorne VINE™ VOICE

Mick Cooper continues to be one of the brightest lights in contemporary counselling practice. This his latest work, is a valuable addition to the library of any counselling practitioner who by choice or compulsion requires a good introdcution to the increasingly relevant subject of research. In the coming months and years all counsellors will I feel sure be required to undertake at some level, research in their area of expertise. By offering examples of research projects that are clearly related to the everyday work of a high proportion of practising counsellors, Mick has made the subject interesting. As a lecturer in counselling I have often struggled to achieve such an imporatnt outcome and am therefore very glad to have this book as a resource from which I will draw examples in my future teaching.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

Interesting without being boring! 1 Aug 2010

By Ms. N. J. Marshall-Shore

The best book around on the subject of research - highlights some important studies and presents the facts in a readable, clear manner without inducing yawning!