Understanding and Treating Psychogenic Voice Disorder

This book provides a step-by-step guide to understanding and treating psychogenic voice disorder by combining speech and language therapy with skills drawn from the field of cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT). Beginning with a new classification of psychogenic voice disorder, the authors then provide a description of the CBT model and give helpful and systematic guidelines on using this approach in combination with speech and language therapy skills. They provide invaluable guidance on how to extend the standard voice case history to include a psychosocial assessment, and how to apply symptomatic voice therapy principles and techniques for this patient population. Later chapters show how to assess and work with patients suffering from symptoms of anxiety and lowered mood, and how to understand and respond to various forms of psychopathology that may present in association with voice disorder. Finally, detailed case studies illustrate how an experienced therapist might respond to individual assessment and treatment challenges.

About the Authors ix Foreword xi Foreword xiii Preface xv Acknowledgements xvii 1 Psychogenic Voice Disorders – A New Model 1 2 Introducing the Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Model 31 3 Cognitive Behaviour Therapy: Essential Assessment Principles and Therapist Skills 39 4 Assessment of Voice and Personal History 57 5 Symptomatic Voice Therapy Approaches 89 6 Assessing Anxiety in Voice Patients 105 7 Treating Anxiety in Voice Patients 119 8 Treating Lowered Mood in Voice Patients 139 9 Psychological Disorders: Deciding When Not to Treat 157 10 Case Studies 175 References 207 Index 213