Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Acute Inpatient Units is written ‘both for and by those people who find themselves in acute mental health inpatient units in the UK’, and it certainly tells it like it is. Written mainly by clinical psychologists (one of the few irritating aspects of this book lies in the interchangeable use of clinical psychologist and cognitive behaviour therapist), the challenges of providing any kind of psychological therapy in an in-patient setting are clearly laid out. Sections on working with individuals, staff teams and groups, illustrated by case studies, all contain useful descriptions of practice and what can be achieved through the application of psychological theory, mainly third-wave cognitive–behavioural therapies (CBT). It is, however, the relentless optimism of the authors in the face of all the ridiculous barriers to their work (which will be familiar to most readers) that gives this book its peculiar charm.

Although it will be of real interest to all staff who work on acute units, I would like to make it mandatory reading for ward and hospital managers, as what really shines through is how shift patterns, nurse staffing levels and the way agency staff are used can make or break the implementation of psychological ways of working in an in-patient setting. This is a nettle that needs to be grasped and which we ignore at our peril.

Cognitive Therapy for Severe Mental Illness: An Illustrated Guide is a completely different type of book. Written by ‘experts in the field’ and from a medical model perspective, it has a profoundly North American flavour. It meets its aim of providing a ‘how to’ guide for working with people with a diagnosis of severe depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. However, clinicians who practise CBT outside of the framework of the medical model will need to work around those sections that are most influenced by that perspective, or look elsewhere. The case studies used are either fictitious or composites and in the DVD which accompanies the book the ‘patients’ (no service users here) are played by the authors' colleagues. Just as randomised controlled trials are often criticised for not providing any sense of success rates in the real world that Clarke & Wilson write about, so there is a lost opportunity here for the authors to demonstrate segments of their work with real people. Worth a look for those who see CBT as ‘quasi-neuroleptic’.