NSU Counseling Professor Publishes First Book

A presentation at the American Counseling Association in 2017 has grown into the first book published by Melanie Iarussi, Ph.D., an associate professor in the College of Psychology’s Department of Counseling. Integrating Motivational Interviewing and Cognitive Behavior Therapy in Clinical Practice covers in detail two types of therapy: motivational interviewing (MI) and cognitive behavior therapy (CBT).

“My dissertation for my doctoral program was on this same topic, so it’s been a thread of my work since I’ve started,” she said.

Iarussi describes MI as a guided approach that meets the client where they are when they aren’t ready for change, and it emphasizes compassion, empathy, and nonjudgement. Separately, CBT is an umbrella of approaches that identifies a client’s core beliefs and can help with symptoms of anxiety, depression, and substance abuse. The book covers how the two therapies are complementary to each other.