Research on Pre-Para-Post-Therapeutic Activities in Mental Health

In the past 25 years, the field of psychotherapy has made tremendous leaps and bounds with regard to the efficacy of psychotherapeutic interventions. The entire evidence-based treatment movement has no doubt revolutionised the manner in which psychotherapy is delivered and, according to many, has served to assure the consumer that they are receiving treatment that falls in line with best practices. As part of this movement, treatment has focused on not only recipients of serious mental illness, but also on individuals who simply need assistance with improving personal and social impairments and developing life coping skills. Unfortunately, much of the service delivery in the past has involved very expensive and time consuming modes of individual, couple, and family therapy that have often extended outside the range of feasibility for many. Consequently, alternative methods of intervention have been explored with the aim of providing less expensive forms of intervention. This unique and timely volume addresses the use of both pre- and para-therapeutic activities, which can be administered prior to the onset of treatment. This may be considered a solid forerunner to the delivery of full fledged psychotherapy which, in some cases, may relinquish the need for the individual to embark on formal treatment.