Adult Psychotherapy Homework Planner. Arthur E. Jongsma, Jr.

and developmental disabilities

       Older adults

       Parenting skills

       Pastoral counseling

       Personality disorders

       Probation and parole

       Psychopharmacology

       Rehabilitation psychology

       School counseling and school social work

       Severe and persistent mental illness

       Sexual abuse victims and offenders

       Social work and human services

       Special education

       Speech‐language pathology

       Suicide and homicide risk assessment

       Veterans and active duty military

       Women's issues

In addition, there are four companion products that can be used in conjunction with the Treatment Planners, or on their own:

       Progress Notes Planners provide a menu of progress statements that elaborate on the client's symptom presentation and the provider's therapeutic intervention. Each Progress Notes Planner statement is directly integrated with the Behavioral Definitions and Therapeutic Interventions from its companion Treatment Planner.

       Homework Planners include homework assignments designed around each presenting problem (such as anxiety, depression, substance use, anger control problems, eating disorders, or panic disorder) that is the focus of a chapter in its corresponding Treatment Planner.

       Evidence‐Based Psychotherapy Treatment Planning Video Series offers 12 sixty‐minute programs that provide step‐by‐step guidance on how to use empirically supported treatments to inform the entire treatment planning process. In a viewer‐friendly manner, Drs. Art Jongsma and Tim Bruce discuss the steps involved in integrating evidence‐based treatment (EBT) Objectives and Interventions into a treatment plan. The research support for the EBTs is summarized, and selected aspects of the EBTs are demonstrated in role‐played counseling scenarios.

       TheraScribe® is the #1 selling treatment planning and clinical record‐keeping software system for mental health professionals. TheraScribe® allows the user to import the data from any of the Treatment Planner, Progress Notes Planner, or Homework Planner books into the software's expandable database to simply point and click to create a detailed, organized, individualized, and customizable treatment plan along with optional integrated progress notes and homework assignments.

      TheraScribe is available by calling 616‐776‐1745. Also, see TheraScribe.com for more information.

      The goal of our series is to provide practitioners with the resources they need in order to provide high‐quality care in the era of accountability. To put it simply: We seek to help you spend more time on clients and less time on paperwork.

      Arthur E. Jongsma, Jr.

      Series EditorGrand Rapids, Michigan

Acknowledgments

      The book is the result of the combined efforts of many people. First, I acknowledge the contribution of my coauthors on several other books, William McInnis and Mark Peterson. They also both previously gave permission for me to borrow and adapt some of the homework exercises we had collaborated on in writing the Adolescent Psychotherapy Homework Planner. Several of the assignments in this book have been adapted to the adult focus group from their original creation for the adolescent client. Thank you, Bill and Mark.

      I also thank Jim Finley and Brenda Lenz for giving their permission to me to adapt two of their assignments from their Addiction Treatment Homework Planner for placement in the Substance Use section of this book.

      I am grateful to Tim Bruce, my invaluable coauthor on several Treatment Planner books, who has accepted my invitation to contribute some additional exercises for this sixth edition of the Adult Psychotherapy Homework Planner.

      My support staff at John Wiley & Sons, including Darren LaLonde and Monica Rogers, continues to move the PracticePlanners^® project forward with enthusiasm and professional dedication. Thank you, all.

      Finally, my personal support system is grounded in my wife, Judy, who makes me feel important even when I am not, and my children and grandchildren, who consistently show interest in my work. Thank you, family.

      A. E. J.

      In many models of therapy, therapeutic change arguably occurs more between sessions than within them, as clients act on what has been discussed. In this Planner, Art Jongsma and I have created a library of convenient exercises that allow therapists an array of homework options to help facilitate targeted therapeutic change. It's an honor to be invited by Art to contribute to this work, and I thank him for that generosity.

      I read once that we shouldn't call it homework, because of the negative connotations associated with it. But clients know it's homework. And in recognition of that, I also acknowledge all of the clients that we ask to do these exercises. We ask a lot of our clients: to commit, trust, disclose, explore, challenge, change, and more. And we thank them for their willingness to try.

      Lastly, and as always, I thank my wife, Lori, and children, Logan and Madeline. They have made home no work at all.

      T. J. B.

INTRODUCTION

      More and more therapists are assigning homework to their clients. Not only have short‐term therapy models endorsed this practice, but the benefits are being recognized by many traditional therapists as well.

WHY HOMEWORK?

      Assigning homework to psychotherapy clients is beneficial for several reasons. With the advent of managed care, which often requires shorter and fewer treatment sessions, therapists assign between‐session homework to help maximize the effectiveness of briefer treatment. Homework is an extension of the treatment process, provides continuity, and allows the client to work between sessions on issues that are the focus of therapy. Homework is also a tool for more fully engaging the client in the treatment process. Assignments place more responsibility on the client to resolve presenting problems, counteracting the expectations that some clients may experience—that it is the therapist alone who can cure the client. For some, it even may bring a sense of self‐empowerment.

      Another added benefit of homework is that these assignments give the client the opportunity to implement and evaluate insights or coping behaviors that have been discussed in therapy sessions. Practice often heightens awareness of various issues. Furthermore, homework increases the expectation for the client to follow through with making changes rather than just talking about change. Exercises require participation, which creates a sense that the client is taking active steps toward change. Homework allows the client to try new behaviors, bringing these experiences back to the next session for processing. Modifications can then be made to the client's thoughts, feelings, or behaviors as the homework is processed in the therapy session.

      Occasionally treatment processes can become vague and abstract. By adding focus and structure, homework assignments can reenergize treatment. Moreover, homework can increase the client's motivation to change as it provides something specific to work on. Additionally, homework increases the involvement of family members and significant others in the client's treatment by using assignments that call for their participation. It promotes more efficient treatment by encouraging the client to actively develop insights, positive self‐talk, and coping behaviors between therapy sessions. Consequently, many clients express increased satisfaction with the treatment