A review of the Manual of Regulation-Focused Psychotherapy for Children (RFP-C) with Externalizing Behaviors: A Psychodynamic Approach by Leon Hoffman, Timothy Rice, & Tracy Prout. New York, NY: Routledge, 2015. 236 pp.
Keywords:
treatment manual, integrative, children, psychodynamicAbstract
It is not often that I keep therapy manuals as bedtime reading and that I go through them cover to cover, but the Manual of Regulation-Focused Psychotherapy for Children (RFP-C) with Externalizing Behaviors (RFP-C; Hoffman, Rice, & Prout, 2015) was a real pleasure to read. This book, with its theoretical and empirical foundations and additional clinical resources, is much more than just a manual. The authors make clear theoretical links between dynamic theory, behavior therapy, and neuropsychological research and therefore potentially appeal to a wide range of clinicians and researchers alike. Although it is very text heavy, and some additional diagrams (e.g. ‘triangles of conflict’) would have made it even stronger, overall the layout of the book is very user friendly. It, for example, presents text boxes of little summary statements in each chapter as well as many clinical examples and transcripts of patient and therapist speaking turns. Also, the additional resources provided in the appendices, such as, the adherence and outcome measures, can easily be used by the child, parent and therapist.