Introduction To Clinical Psychology Dr. Janet R. Matthews and Dr. Barry S. Anton

Oxford University Press 2008

Introduction to Clinical Psychology covers the history, theory, practice, and potential future of the discipline and provides a comprehensive overview of interviewing, assessment, psychotherapy, community intervention, and public policy.

The text describes psychological assessment procedures in detail and provides case studies demonstrating how the tests are administered and interpreted. It presents psychotherapy from both the traditional “schools” perspective and the practical perspective of number of individuals being seen-individual, couple, group, and family.”

This undergraduate text is written in a conversational tone that is genuine, straightforward, and sprinkled with interesting anecdotes of the authors’ experiences bridging technical information into more practical meaning. Much of traditional clinical psychology is covered, but fascinating chapters on specialties and “The Dynamic Future of Clinical Psychology,” pull together the technology and career directions that many readers will enjoy. Included are sections on Neuropsychology, Health Psychology, Forensic Psychology, Sport Psychology, Geropsychology, Clinical Child Psychology and Pediatric Psychology. Linking into career directions the authors expand on “Serious Mental Illness,” “Trauma,” “Public Policy Activities,” “Executive Coaching.” Emerging topics include “Prescriptive Authority,” “Behavioral Health,” “Assessment,” “Positive Psychology,” “Diversity,” “Technology,” and “Lifespan Psychology.”

Dr. Janet Matthews told the Times that her path to getting Clinical Psychology published was a “fairly complicated story.” During a SEPA convention she met a senior editor from Mayfield Press. The two struck up an easy friendship and he asked her to consider writing a book. Janet did not really want to do another book at that time, but later she encountered the Mayfield editor again at the APA convention. “Over breakfast, on a paper napkin,” she said, “we did a rough table of contents for an introduction to clinical psychology.” She agreed to write the book, scheduling a sabbatical leave to do the work. However, in the meantime Mayfield was sold, and her editor decided to retire. Janet did not pursue the book with the new owner, but she still had approval for the leave. Then during an APA convention, a friend suggested she attend an Oxford University Press party to meet an editor. She did so and this led to a contract. After many changes and delays due to changes in Oxford’s college textbook division, the book was finally published. She said, “The book actually took about eight years to go from contract to publication.”

What does Janet like best about writing? “For me it is probably seeing the finished product,” she said. “Being able to look back over the process from that initial outline and proposal to the final book is very fulfilling. Since I tend to write at home rather than in my office, I also enjoy the solitude of working on a book. My cats were still alive when I was doing this work and so having a whole day (I usually wrote on a day when I could spend the entire day on the process) when I could be creative and yet take a break and rub their fur was truly serene.”

“One frustration is dealing with the reviewers hired by publishers,” she said. “Some of them really provide good feedback but others just seem to miss the whole point of the book and therefore you then have to explain to your editor why you are definitely not going to make the changes they suggest.”

In regard to future writing projects, Janet does not have anything planned at present. “I have also considered using one part of my clinical book as a potential “stand alone” careers book and talking to a publisher about it. At this point, I am not sure I want the hassle of doing it because it involved considerable interviewing, editing, and generally rough time constraints that I don’t want while I am so involved in current APA roles.” Janet is the chair of Board of Educational Affairs, president-elect of APA’s Division 31, and she has a scheduled attendance at two Fall APA leadership conferences – Educational Leadership Conference in September and Science Leadership Conference in November.

Understandably, Dr. Matthews said, “I will need to think more carefully about this before proceeding.”

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