Schema Therapy in Practice: An Introductory Guide to the Schema Mode Approach By Arnoud Arntz, Gitta Jacob, Wiley-Blackwell, 2013, £32.99, pb, 276 pp. ISBN: 9781119962861

The continued proliferation of ‘branded’ psychotherapies can induce cynical beliefs that these are simply products of old ideas being repackaged as new, fuelling an inverted logic in which the dogma of evidence-based practice invades the therapy room to dictate and control the therapeutic relationship. A more optimistic view is of a creative and progressive evolution. As an integrative therapy, the schema approach has been developed with the hope of establishing an effective treatment for patients who may not be suited to classical cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) or analytic approaches alone. The newer schema mode approach covered in this text has been envisaged specifically for personality disorders but is here presented for more generic application.

Compared with the seminal texts by the pioneer Jeffrey Young, this book offers a distinct experience for the reader by keeping brief the theoretical background and assuming the reader's competency in generic approaches to therapy. Arntz & Jacob aim to provide an introductory guide for non-specialist practitioners who wish to incorporate schema therapy into their practice for a variety of patients rather than as a manual for specific psychiatric disorders.

The clearly narrated schema modes, which are linked to a set of specific clinical interventions, enabled me to feel that I was discovering a sufficiently novel and useful therapeutic approach. The authors provide a clear understanding of how a schema therapist adapts and integrates the familiar ideas and techniques of CBT and psychodynamic therapies but also how (and importantly, why) novel additional methods are incorporated, such as ‘chair dialogues’, ‘imagery re-scripting’ exercises and ‘limited re-parenting’ techniques. The writing style is concise and grounded in the clinical setting, the case examples are clear and informative and the FAQs at the end of each chapter are well conceived.

It is difficult for any textual account to portray the complexities of interpersonal processes which are operant in psychotherapies. Arntz & Jacob manage to provide a captivating insight into what we might observe if looking in on a schema therapy session, and I think go some way towards convincing us that these are some genuinely novel ideas and methods that may deserve a place in our own consulting rooms.