Norton is the Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Houston, Director of the University of Houston Anxiety Disorder Clinic and is the co-author of The Anti-Anxiety Workbook: proven strategies to overcome worry, phobias, and obsessions. In this book he has combined his clinical and research expertise to produce a manual that provides an inspiring and practical step-by-step guide aimed at practitioners on how to deliver a 12-week transdiagnostic group treatment for anxiety. Detailed session-by-session instruction and guidance is included for each of the 12 group sessions, as well as for individual pre- and posttreatment assessment. All the forms needed to run the group are included in the manual, even down to the confidentiality contract. These forms are also available online for readers to download. Points are demonstrated through the use of vignettes and detailed homework tasks are described for each session, starting with session 1. A useful section on common problems and associated troubleshooting is included at the end of every treatment session.

The manual is presented in 12 chapters. In the first two chapters the author provides a background and rationale for developing a transdiagnostic approach to treatment in which clients with different anxiety disorders are treated in the same therapy group. This model uses the components of traditional CBT to treat anxiety as an “excessive fear of something” rather than treating different disorders separately. The author highlights the commonalities across the anxiety disorders, which forms the transdiagnostic framework, and it is within this framework that the main components of the treatment are applied. These are: psycho-education, thought challenging and beliefs and graduated exposure.

A full chapter is devoted to explaining the assessment of clients for the group. Although a transdiagnostic treatment approach is used, the author recommends a full diagnostic interview at intake. Following on from this, Chapters 4 to 11 provide in-depth guidance on running the 12 weekly group sessions. Chapter 4 presents the first “Introduction and Education” session. Education and normalization around anxiety is continued during the second session, which is described in Chapter 5, and concepts including cognitive restructuring and automatic thoughts are also introduced. Chapter 6 focuses on how to teach clients in the group to challenge automatic thoughts, generate rational responses, and finally to practise full cognitive restructuring in-session.

Exposure constitutes a substantial part of this treatment and Chapter 7 is devoted to planning for group sessions 4 to 9, which focus on in-session and homework exposure. The basics of exposure therapy are explained and the values of in vivo exposure are discussed. Anecdotal examples and ideas of creative ways to carry out different types of exposures (including interoceptive exposures, imaginal, analogue, role-plays) are presented. There is also discussion on response prevention and safety behaviours and how to deal with these. The author provides a lot of guidance on the planning and setting up of exposures that take place during the group sessions so that the clinician is fully prepared. Chapter 8 then focuses on delivering sessions 4 to 9.

Chapter 9 begins the final phase of the treatment program, taking place from session 10, where work returns to the cognitive element of the treatment. There is a subsection on Cognitive Restructuring in Everyday Life and guidance on how to introduce the idea of an “anxious style” to participants. Within this context, clients learn about thinking errors. In the following 11^th session, covered in Chapter 10 of the manual, space is provided for the clients to reflect during the session on their practice of cognitive restructuring in everyday life to work on unhelpful core themes.

Chapter 11 offers guidance on preparing for and running the final session. This includes subsections on Maintaining Gains and Continuing Progress and on Concluding Treatment. Again here, as throughout the manual, the vignettes provide clear examples of how to do this whilst ending treatment in a celebratory style. Finally, Chapter 12 explains the posttreatment assessment, which is recommended by the author.

Norton has provided a treatment manual that is accessible, comprehensive and insightful. It is practical and provides a clear explanation of how to employ the transdiagnostic group approach. Although many of the examples appear to be based on the author's own extensive clinical and research experience, it is presented in a style that both experienced and less experienced clinicians could relate to. The program is also flexible enough that it can be adapted for use with individual clients without changing the structure of the program. Individual and group case examples in the form of vignettes and anecdotes are usefully given throughout. As well as supporting information and guidance on using this approach, these also help to effectively convey the ideal tone of a CBT group and to demonstrate the collaborative communication style essential for the effective delivery of this type of intervention.

In summary, this book is ideal for any cognitive behavioural practitioner looking to develop their clinical skills and know-how in delivering a novel, effective group intervention for the treatment for anxiety disorders.