Do One Thing Different: And Other Uncommonly Sensible Solutions to Life's Persistent Problems

Blithely repackaging traditional cognitive-behavioral therapy, certified counselor O'Hanlon (Love Is a Verb, etc.) justifies his ""solution-oriented therapy"" with numerous self-aggrandizing case examples but no empirical research. He advises readers to look to the past for successful solutions to previous problems and to apply them to the present. Analyzing why a problem is happening is a waste of time, he contends: all that's needed is simple experimentation with one's behavior. For instance, in one example, a couple who argued nightly when the husband returned from work were able to break their pattern by postponing any discussions until after he had showered and changed clothes. All that was needed, suggests O'Hanlon, was this simple adjustment. However, the husband's respite probably allowed him crucial time to relax and get some mental distance from his workday. Some of the apparently ridiculous pattern changes O'Hanlon recommends (if you wish to eat fewer cookies, eat them with your left hand instead of your right) work because they increase awareness of the behavior, as recognized by behavior therapists many decades ago. O'Hanlon has mastered a formula that draws in the reader with entertaining anecdotes, concise summaries and an appealingly simple message, but it verges on the simplistic. Agent, Loretta Barrett. (Oct.)