Beyond Psychotherapy: Programmed Writing and Structured Computer-Assisted Interventions

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LUCIANO L'ABATE: Beyond Psychotherapy: Programmed Writing And Structured Computer-Assisted Interventions. Ablex Publishing, Acquired by Greenwood Publishing Group, Westport, CT: 2002, 296 pp., $99.95, ISBN 1-56750-654-2. The specialized area of therapy covered by this text may not be familiar to many psychotherapists. Programmed writing involves the use of regular, directed writing as a form of therapy. For example, the patients may be directed to write for twenty minutes three times a week about something that has hurt them. Alternatively, the patient may be instructed to complete specific workbooks tailored to address various symptoms or diagnoses. These journals or workbooks are then returned to the therapist for feedback. Distance writing refers to correspondence taking place via mail or by computers, via e-mail or Internet. The author of the text is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Georgia State University. He has written extensively in the field of programmed writing, and he and his co-workers have experience in validating programmed writing workbooks. The early part of the book makes the case for the increased use of programmed writing and also for increased research into the outcome of this type of therapy. The author claims that we currently have a bimodal system for delivery of psychotherapy, which consists of either face-to-face psychotherapy or nothing at all. He states that many potential patients cannot afford or may be too intimidated by face-to-face therapy, and that other persons who could benefit from therapy (such as inmates) cannot logistically participate in regular therapy sessions. Insisting that this deprives many people of potential help, the author then goes on to propose the use of programmed writing to fill the gap between face to face therapy and nothing at all. He also theorizes that the discipline and self-control required to complete workbooks and directed journals are therapeutic in themselves and help reduce acting out for patients who begin this process. Since the efficacy of psychotherapy has been called into question by third party payers, the author also notes that programmed writing produces a written record of therapy and that this record can facilitate research into the outcome of therapy as well as allowing a comparison of the outcomes of the different psychotherapeutic approaches embodied in the various workbooks and programs. The middle chapters of the book present a survey of the various workbooks that are available. A few of the workbooks have been validated by the author and by other researchers, whereas other workbooks listed are un validated. Specific workbooks can be assigned according to the results of formal psychological testing or according to presenting symptoms and situations, or based on an initial face-to-face screening interview with a potential patient. Although quite a wide variety of workbook programs are listed, the descriptions are very brief and if a reader desires more information on the content and process of a specific workbook, the extensive references provided by the text will have to be consulted. …