Learning Process-Based Therapy: A Skills Training Manual for Targeting the Core Processes of Psychological Change in Clinical Practice (2021) by Stefan G. Hofmann, Steven C. Hayes, and David N. Lorscheid [Book Review]

In plain language

For decades, clinical psychology has relied on a "protocol-for-syndrome" approach: match a diagnosis (like depression or anxiety) to a standardised treatment manual. This has produced good work, but effect sizes in the field have stagnated for 30 to 40 years, and trials pitting one therapy package against another often end in stalemate because packages share many of the same underlying ingredients. In this published book review, Joseph Ciarrochi evaluates the training manual Learning Process-Based Therapy by Stefan Hofmann, Steven Hayes, and David Lorscheid, which proposes a different path: focus on the evidence-based processes of change that matter for a particular client, rather than on brand-name therapy packages.

The review walks through what the manual offers practitioners. Process-based therapy (PBT) is presented as a "meta" approach: a cognitive behavioural therapist, schema therapist, or acceptance and commitment therapist can keep their preferred approach while using PBT to personalise it. The manual organises the bewildering variety of therapeutic techniques into six process dimensions — cognition, affect, attention, self, motivation, and overt behaviour — and shows how to extend interventions across biological, individual, and social levels. Later chapters teach a network- and system-based way of thinking that explains why client improvement is rarely continuous: long periods of slow change can be followed by sudden, rapid transformation.

Ciarrochi concludes that the book will become known as a classic early expression of these ideas and recommends it as essential reading for practitioners who want to move towards process-based, personalised intervention. He highlights the book's practical tools — case studies, tables, and worksheets — and its "treatment kernels" concept, which helps clinicians identify the essential component of any treatment and integrate techniques from different therapeutic traditions in a theoretically coherent way.

Key findings

• The review argues the field needs a fresh approach because effect sizes in clinical psychology have stagnated for 30 to 40 years under the standardised protocol-for-syndrome model.
• Process-based therapy is presented as a "meta" approach that does not compete with existing evidence-based therapies but helps practitioners personalise them to each client's needs.
• The manual organises therapeutic processes into six dimensions: cognition, affect, attention, self, motivation, and overt behaviour, and extends interventions across biological, individual, and social levels.
• Its network- and system-based perspective explains why client improvement is often discontinuous — long slow periods followed by sudden, rapid change.
• The "treatment kernels" concept empowers clinicians to identify the essential components of different evidence-based therapies and integrate them coherently into their own practice.
• Ciarrochi recommends the book as an essential, well-organised, practical read for practitioners moving towards process-based and personalised intervention.

How to cite

APA

Ciarrochi, J. (2023). Learning Process-Based Therapy: A Skills Training Manual for Targeting the Core Processes of Psychological Change in Clinical Practice (2021) by Stefan G. Hofmann, Steven C. Hayes, and David N. Lorscheid. New Harbinger Publications. ISBN: 9781684037551. Psychotherapy and Counselling Journal of Australia, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.59158/001c.73352

BibTeX

@article{ciarrochi2023learning,
  author  = {Ciarrochi, Joseph},
  title   = {Learning Process-Based Therapy: A Skills Training Manual for Targeting the Core Processes of Psychological Change in Clinical Practice (2021) by Stefan G. Hofmann, Steven C. Hayes, and David N. Lorscheid. New Harbinger Publications. ISBN: 9781684037551},
  journal = {Psychotherapy and Counselling Journal of Australia},
  year    = {2023},
  volume  = {11},
  number  = {1},
  doi     = {10.59158/001c.73352}
}

Related work

• All publications by Joseph Ciarrochi (searchable, with free PDFs)
• Process-Based Therapy & Idionomic Analysis

Author: Joseph Ciarrochi (ORCID 0000-0003-0471-8100). Free copy hosted with permission for scholarly use. Please cite the published version via the DOI above.