Main description:

This lucidly written guide presents an innovative approach for treating somatization disorder and related problems, such as fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, and chronic fatigue syndrome. The authors' program integrates cognitive-behavioral techniques with strategies to build emotional self-awareness and interventions to help patients understand and alter their illness behavior. Systematic yet flexible, it is supported by controlled clinical research. The book reviews the conceptual underpinnings of the approach, discusses its ongoing testing and refinement, and offers clear-cut guidelines for assessment and treatment. Special features include illustrative case material, many pointers for practice, and reproducible appendices that provide a 10-session mini-manual and helpful handouts and forms.

Contents:

1. Introduction
2. Somatization: Epidemiology, Clinical Characteristics, and Treatment
3. Affective Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Somatization: Rationale and Overview
4. Assessment
5. The Context of the Therapy
6. Behavioral Interventions
7. Working with Cognitions and Emotions
8. Interpersonal Methods
9. Assorted Clinical Topics
Appendices:
A. Ten-Session Treatment Manual
B. Clinical Trial Assessing the Efficacy of Affective Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
C. Severity of Somatic Symptoms Scale
D. Somatic Symptom Questionnaire
E. Instructions for Abbreviated Progressive Muscle Relaxation
F. Examining Thoughts