Jasper A. J. Smits

There can be no better example of mind/body integration than the use of exercise to improve mental health. There is substantial evidence that exercise can be used to depression, treat anxiety and panic, enhance cognition, reduce stress, and enhance psychological resilience. This workbook can be used as a stand-alone treatment, as an addition to other ongoing treatment, or as a strategy to extend gains or prevent relapse following success with a prior treatment. The motivational strategies in this workbook offer a fresh way to approach exercise and make the program work for each individual's lifestyle. In addition to information on how to start and maintain an exercise program, this workbook comes complete with worksheets and logs for scheduling and tracking physical activity. Exercise-based treatment and the guidance provided by this workbook helps to improve mood, reduce anxiety, and achieve better cognition, along with promoting a general sense of psychological resilience (including specialty applications such as using exercise to aid smoking cessation). Fully updated to reflect new research and organized in an easy-to-use session-by-session format, this new edition will be a valuable resource and powerful tool for readers who want to enhance their lives through exercise.

Exercise has powerful effects on mental health. This therapist guide, and the accompanying workbook, provide an indispensable resource for practitioners who wish to expand their therapeutic range to include exercise-based interventions. A wealth of data shows the efficacy of these interventions for the treatment of mood and anxiety disorders, cognitive enhancement, and resilience training, including resilience training applied to the control of habit disorders like smoking. This therapist guide provides a step-by-step accounting of the benefits of exercise, the application of exercise to specific conditions, recommended exercise dose and durations, and, perhaps most importantly, motivational strategies to help clients get to and succeed with exercise. Fully revised and updated to capture the latest research in the area, this new edition also expands the content of the first edition to cover exercise for cognition, resilience, and smoking. Introductory chapters provide general guidance on strategies for initiating and maintaining exercise and are complemented by chapters devoted to the specific application of exercise to mood disorders, anxiety disorders, the enhancement of cognition, and for general resilience as might be applied in a relapse-prevention phase of treatment.

Evidence overwhelmingly shows that exposure therapy is effective for the treatment of anxiety and related disorders. Its adoption into clinical practice has been slow, however-in part because the available one-size-fits-all manuals often leave patients and clinicians unsatisfied. Personalized Exposure Therapy provides expert guidance to clinicians on conducting exposure-based interventions in a targeted and flexible fashion. Providing detailed information on a range of strategies for maximizing clinical outcomes from exposure, this book features a case formulation approach that personalizes the timing and nature of exposure practice. Case examples, scripts, and worksheets, presented in a practical, mentor-based format for planning and enacting individual sessions, ensure that clinical procedures are readily accessible for in-session use. Personalized Exposure Therapy is appropriate for early-career and experienced clinicians alike, and will also be suitable for use in graduate courses in clinical psychology, counselling, social work, nursing and psychiatry.

One of the best kept secrets in the treatment of mood and anxiety disorders is the proven efficacy of a program of exercise, which has many benefits on mood, but has yet to be widely adopted as a therapeutic technique. This therapist guide provides guidance for care providers who want to apply exercise-based interventions to the treatment of mood and anxiety disorders. The interventions described can be applied in a variety of settings ranging from primary care to specialty care in the context of psychological, psychiatric, nursing, or social work settings. Treatment is organized around a weekly prescribed activity program, with an emphasis on teaching patients strategies for staying motivated and organized in order to ensure adherence to the program. In addition to the actual exercise prescription, treatment is directed toward helping individuals get the most out of exercise by programming post-exercise cognitive processing and exercise-friendly activities. Introductory chapters of this guide describe the intervention and how to initiate it with patients, while later chapters focus specifically on using exercise to combat depression, including bipolar disorder, as well as stress, worry, and panic. This manual provides an integrated approach to establish exercise programs targeting mood and anxiety disorders and also provides useful cognitive and behavioral interventions designed to support these programs.

Research has shown that individuals who exercise regularly have less stress, less anxiety, less depression, and fewer substance use problems than those who don't. Studies have also shown that exercise can help combat the effects of depression and anxiety. Designed to be used in conjunction with visits to your clinician, this workbook helps you plan an exercise program and provides strategies for following through with your exercise goals. The workbook is structured to help you prevent mood disturbances from blocking the very activities that can help you feel better. During the course of this program, you will be introduced to some of the situational factors that can interfere with establishing a successful exercise routine. With the help of your therapist, you will learn how to overcome these factors, as well as how to set up your environment so that exercise is successful and rewarding. In addition to information on how to start and maintain an exercise program, this workbook comes complete with worksheets and logs for scheduling and tracking your physical activity. Strategies for managing your thinking patterns are also provided and will help you boost your motivation and break through barriers to exercise.