New Harbinger Publications

Last updated
New Harbinger Publications
Nhp-leaf blueR.jpg
Founded1973
FounderMatthew McKay, Ph.D. and Patrick Fanning
Country of origin Flag of the United States.svg United States
Headquarters location Oakland, California
Distributionself-distributed (US)
SG Distributors (South Africa)
Bookreps NZ (New Zealand)
Raincoast Books (Canada)
Little, Brown Book Group (UK)
John Reed Book Distributors (Australia) [1]
Publication types Books, CDs, DVDs, E-books
Revenue$15,000,000 (2013)
No. of employees50 (2013)
Official website www.newharbinger.com

New Harbinger Publications, Inc. is an employee-owned, Oakland-based American publisher of self-help books.

Contents

Overview

This publisher of self-help books specializes in titles that offer step-by-step procedures for dealing with phobias, anxiety, anger, relationship conflict and a wide variety of depression-related psychological problems. Founders Matthew McKay and Patrick Fanning’s have co-authored a dozen titles which established the model for New Harbinger’s other books. [2]

New Harbinger has annual sales of + $15 million and over 50 employees. [3] In 2004 employees owned 53% of the stock. [3]

New Harbinger markets its titles to therapists, psychiatrists, and physicians for use by their patients and clients. [2]

The New Harbinger catalog contains more than 300 titles. [4]

History

The company was founded in 1973 by psychologist Matthew McKay and writer, Patrick Fanning. [4] McKay received his PhD in clinical psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology, and specializes in the cognitive behavioral treatment of anxiety and depression. He lives and works in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. [5] McKay has authored and coauthored numerous books in the New Harbinger catalog including The Relaxation and Stress Reduction Workbook, Self-Esteem, Thoughts and Feelings, When Anger Hurts, and ACT on Life Not on Anger. He has also penned two fiction novels, Us and The Wawona Hotel. [5]

Pat Fanning retired in the year 2000 but as of 2018 is still on the New Harbinger board of directors. [3] [6]

In 2003, the company ended its long relationship with Publishers Group West and took on a sales force to distribute its own titles. [4]

In 2007, the company announced:

  1. a co-publishing agreement with the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS). New Harbinger and Noetic Books [7] partnered to publish books that incorporate science and focus on global issues, consciousness, spiritual and psychological wellness.
  2. distribute of books by Boaz Publishing Company. [8]
  3. establishment of the Fabri Literary Prize, which is awarded and published by Boaz Publishing. [9]
  4. acquisition of Context Press [10] titles (Psychologist and professor Steven C. Hayes established Context Press). [11]

In 2008, the company acquired Instant Help Books, [12] publisher of workbooks for children, teens, and adults on topics such as depression, anxiety, and anger.

Also in 2008, this publisher began publishing e-books.

Catalog

New Harbinger's books selling over one million copies are: [3]

  1. Michael Singer (2007). The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself. Oakland: New Harbinger/ Noetic Books. ISBN   978-1572245372
  2. Susan Albers (2009). 50 Ways to Soothe Yourself Without Food. Oakland: New Harbinger. ISBN   978-1572246768
  3. Bob Stahl & Elisha Goldstein (2010). A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook. Oakland: New Harbinger Publications; Pap/MP3. ISBN   978-1572247086
  4. Nancy Mohrbacher & Kathleen Kendall-Tackett (2010). Breastfeeding Made Simple: Seven Natural Laws for Nursing Mothers. Oakland: New Harbinger. ISBN   978-1572248618
  5. Matthew McKay, Elizabeth Robbins Eshelman & Martha Davis (2008 6th ed.). The Relaxation & Stress Reduction Workbook. Oakland: New Harbinger. ISBN   978-1572245495

Many of New Harbinger's psychology books focus on the areas of ACT, CBT, and DBT. New Harbinger is a leading publisher in the area of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). It has published 26 ACT titles, including several by Hayes, who co-founded ACT and is one of its leading theorists. [13] [14]

New Harbinger also publishes a number of books that use the psychological concentrations of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT).

The New Harbinger catalog contains more than 300 titles in the areas of: [4]

  1. Psychological self-help: anxiety, depression, ADD/ADHD, Autism, Asperger’s, addiction and recovery, agoraphobia, anger management, bipolar and cyclothymia, borderline personality disorder, dissociative identity disorder, eating and body image disorders, grief recovery, impulse-control problems, OCD, perfectionism, self esteem, stress, trauma and psychological abuse.
  2. Health & wellness: Alzheimer’s, cancer, cardiac health, diet and exercise, digestive and urinary problems, disease prevention, fibromyalgia and chronic illness, medications, Parkinson’s, pain control, perimenopause and menopause, whole body healing.
  3. Family and relationship: aging, alternative families, special needs, divorce, intimate relationships, parenting skills, pregnancy and childcare, human sexuality, weddings and marriage.
  4. Personal growth: career and business, communication skills, focus and memory, spirituality and philosophy, transformation.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cognitive behavioral therapy</span> Therapy to improve mental health

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a psycho-social intervention that aims to reduce symptoms of various mental health conditions, primarily depression and anxiety disorders. CBT focuses on challenging and changing cognitive distortions and their associated behaviors to improve emotional regulation and develop personal coping strategies that target solving current problems. Though it was originally designed to treat depression, its uses have been expanded to include the treatment of many mental health conditions, including anxiety, substance use disorders, marital problems, and eating disorders. CBT includes a number of cognitive or behavioral psychotherapies that treat defined psychopathologies using evidence-based techniques and strategies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dialectical behavior therapy</span> Psychotherapy for emotional dysregulation

Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is an evidence-based psychotherapy that began with efforts to treat personality disorders and interpersonal conflicts. Evidence suggests that DBT can be useful in treating mood disorders and suicidal ideation, as well as for changing behavioral patterns such as self-harm and substance use. DBT evolved into a process in which the therapist and client work with acceptance and change-oriented strategies, and ultimately balance and synthesize them—comparable to the philosophical dialectical process of thesis and antithesis followed by synthesis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cognitive restructuring</span> Type of psychological therapy

Cognitive restructuring (CR) is a psychotherapeutic process of learning to identify and dispute irrational or maladaptive thoughts known as cognitive distortions, such as all-or-nothing thinking (splitting), magical thinking, overgeneralization, magnification, and emotional reasoning, which are commonly associated with many mental health disorders. CR employs many strategies, such as Socratic questioning, thought recording, and guided imagery, and is used in many types of therapies, including cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT). A number of studies demonstrate considerable efficacy in using CR-based therapies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emotional reasoning</span>

Emotional reasoning is a cognitive process by which an individual concludes that their emotional reaction proves something is true, despite contrary empirical evidence. Emotional reasoning creates an 'emotional truth', which may be in direct conflict with the inverse 'perceptional truth'. It can create feelings of anxiety, fear, and apprehension in existing stressful situations, and as such, is often associated with or triggered by panic disorder or anxiety disorder. For example, even though a spouse has shown only devotion, a person using emotional reasoning might conclude, "I know my spouse is being unfaithful because I feel jealous."

Acceptance and commitment therapy is a form of psychotherapy, as well as a branch of clinical behavior analysis. It is an empirically based psychological intervention that uses acceptance and mindfulness strategies along with commitment and behavior-change strategies to increase psychological flexibility. This approach was originally termed comprehensive distancing. Steven C. Hayes developed the treatment starting around 1982 in order to create an approach that integrated both key features of cognitive therapy and behavior analysis, especially behavior analytic data on the often negative effects of verbal rules and how they might be ameliorated. There are a variety of protocols for ACT, depending on the target behavior and setting. For example, in behavioral health areas, a brief version of ACT is called focused acceptance and commitment therapy (FACT).

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is an approach to psychotherapy that uses cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) methods in collaboration with mindfulness meditative practices and similar psychological strategies. The origins to its conception and creation can be traced back to the traditional approaches from East Asian formative and functional medicine, philosophy and spirituality, birthed from the basic underlying tenets from classical Taoist, Buddhist and Traditional Chinese medical texts, doctrine and teachings.

Steven C. Hayes is an American clinical psychologist and Nevada Foundation Professor at the University of Nevada, Reno Department of Psychology, where he is a faculty member in their Ph.D. program in behavior analysis. He is known for developing relational frame theory, an account of human higher cognition. He is the co-developer of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), a popular evidence-based form of psychotherapy that uses mindfulness, acceptance, and values-based methods, and is the co-developer of process-based therapy (PBT), a new approach to evidence-based therapies more generally. He also coined the term clinical behavior analysis.

The Fabri Literary Prize was established in 2006 to honor the memory of Frances Fabri. A Holocaust survivor, Frances Fabri spearheaded efforts in the United States to record survivor stories, helping to create the interviewing protocols that are used widely today. Frances had much respect for the storyteller’s craft. Throughout her adult life she wrote chronicles of her experiences in the concentration camps and recorded oral histories of fellow survivors. A collection of her short stories, Crickets Would Sing, has been published posthumously by Plum Branch Press.

Primarily obsessional obsessive-compulsive disorder is a lesser-known form or manifestation of OCD. It is not a diagnosis in the DSM-5. For people with primarily obsessional OCD, there are fewer observable compulsions, compared to those commonly seen with the typical form of OCD. While ritualizing and neutralizing behaviors do take place, they are mostly cognitive in nature, involving mental avoidance and excessive rumination. Primarily obsessional OCD takes the form of intrusive thoughts of a distressing or violent nature.

PTSD or post-traumatic stress disorder, is a psychiatric disorder characterised by intrusive thoughts and memories, dreams or flashbacks of the event; avoidance of people, places and activities that remind the individual of the event; ongoing negative beliefs about oneself or the world, mood changes and persistent feelings of anger, guilt or fear; alterations in arousal such as increased irritability, angry outbursts, being hypervigilant, or having difficulty with concentration and sleep.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Association for Contextual Behavioral Science</span> Professional association for ACT, RFT, and behavior analysis

The Association for Contextual Behavioral Science (ACBS) is a worldwide nonprofit professional membership organization associated with acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and relational frame theory (RFT) among other topics. The term "contextual behavioral science" refers to the application of functional contextualism to human behavior, including contextual forms of applied behavior analysis, cognitive behavioral therapy, and evolution science. In the applied area Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is perhaps the best known wing of contextual behavioral science, and is an emphasis of ACBS, along with other types of contextual CBT, and efforts in education, organizational behavior, and other areas. ACT is considered an empirically validated treatment by the American Psychological Association, with the status of "Modest Research Support" in depression, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, mixed anxiety disorders, and psychosis, and "Strong Research Support" in chronic pain. ACT is also listed as evidence-based by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the United States federal government which has examined randomized trials for ACT in the areas of psychosis, work site stress, and obsessive compulsive disorder, including depression outcomes. In the basic area, Relational Frame Theory is a research program in language and cognition that is considered part of contextual behavioral science, and is a focus of ACBS. Unlike the better known behavioral approach proposed by B.F. Skinner in his book Verbal Behavior, experimental RFT research has emerged in a number of areas traditionally thought to be beyond behavioral perspectives, such as grammar, metaphor, perspective taking, implicit cognition and reasoning.

Emotional abandonment is a subjective emotional state in which people feel undesired, left behind, insecure, or discarded. People experiencing emotional abandonment may feel at a loss. They may feel like they have been cut off from a crucial source of sustenance or feel withdrawn, either suddenly or through a process of erosion. Emotional abandonment can manifest through loss or separation from a loved one.

Mode deactivation therapy (MDT) is a psychotherapeutic approach that addresses dysfunctional emotions, maladaptive behaviors and cognitive processes and contents through a number of goal-oriented, explicit systematic procedures. The name refers to the process of mode deactivation that is based on the concept of cognitive modes as introduced by Aaron T. Beck. The MDT methodology was developed by Jack A. Apsche by combining the unique validation–clarification–redirection (VCR) process step with elements from acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), and mindfulness to bring about durable behavior change.

Compassion-focused therapy (CFT) is a system of psychotherapy developed by Paul Gilbert that integrates techniques from cognitive behavioral therapy with concepts from evolutionary psychology, social psychology, developmental psychology, Buddhist psychology, and neuroscience. According to Gilbert, "One of its key concerns is to use compassionate mind training to help people develop and work with experiences of inner warmth, safeness and soothing, via compassion and self-compassion."

Interpersonal Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (I-CBT) is a branch of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) that is mainly used to treat anxiety, depression, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and autism spectrum disorder. It was developed by Thomas Cordier of Glastonbury Connecticut, USA.

Stefan G. Hofmann is a German-born clinical psychologist. He is the Alexander von Humboldt Professor and recipient of the LOEWE Spitzenprofessur for Translational Clinical Psychology at the Philipps University of Marburg in Germany and Professor for Psychology at the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Boston University examining Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, especially for anxiety disorders Since 2012, he has been editor in chief of the journal Cognitive Therapy and Research

Self-as-context, one of the core principles in acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), is the concept that people are not the content of their thoughts or feelings, but rather are the consciousness experiencing or observing the thoughts and feelings. Self-as-context is distinguished from self-as-content, defined in ACT as the social scripts people maintain about who they are and how they operate in the world.

Laura Silberstein is an American psychologist, psychotherapist and author.

Donald H. Meichenbaum is an American psychologist and Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Waterloo, Ontario. He is a research director of the Melissa Institute for Violence Prevention and Treatment at the University of Miami. Meichenbaum is known for his research and publications on psychotherapy, and contributed to the development of the technique of cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT). In 1982, a survey of 800 members of the American Psychological Association voted Meichenbaum the tenth most influential psychotherapist of the 20th century. At the time of his retirement from the University of Waterloo in 1998, Meichenbaum was the most-cited psychology researcher at a Canadian university.

Susan Heitler is an American clinical psychologist. She practiced from 1975 to 2020 at the Rose Medical Center in Denver, treating individuals, couples and families. She specializes in treating depression, anger, anxiety, marital problems, parental alienation, and conflict resolution

References

  1. "International Orders". 2012-07-17. Retrieved 2018-02-12.
  2. 1 2 "About Us". newharbinger.com. Retrieved July 28, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "The little publisher that could" (PDF). newharbinger.com. Retrieved January 7, 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Reid, Calvin. "Self-Distribution for a Self-Help House". publishersweekly.com. Retrieved August 25, 2003.
  5. 1 2 "Matthew McKay, PhD". newharbinger.com. Retrieved July 28, 2015.
  6. "About Us for New Harbinger Publications". New Harbinger Publications.
  7. Noetic Books web page
  8. Boaz Publishing Company website
  9. Nawotka, Edward (January 26, 2007). "Boaz Publishing Offers $10,000 for Unpublished Novels". Publishers Weekly.
  10. New Harbinger Publications: Context Press
  11. Context Press website
  12. Kinsella, Bridget (December 14, 2007). "New Harbinger Acquires Instant Help Books". Publishers Weekly.
  13. Cloud, John (February 5, 2006). "The Third Wave of Therapy". TIME. Archived from the original on September 13, 2012.
  14. Carey, Benedict (May 25, 2008). "Lotus Therapy". The New York Times.