Designed to bridge the gap between theory and practice, this text presents vivid examples of how the major counseling approaches (psychoanalytic, Adlerian, existential, person-centered, Gestalt, reality, behavior, cognitive-behavior, family systems, feminist and, new to this edition, postmodern approaches) work with a single client, Ruth. By applying each theory to a single client, Dr. Corey illustrates each therapeutic approach in action and helps clear up misconceptions students might have about how a therapy actually works. Guest commentators (each a well-known and highly recognized practitioner) discuss Ruth's case based on their perspectives. In some cases, Dr. Corey was able to enlist the founder of a particular therapy such as William Glasser for choice theory and reality therapy, Arnold Lazarus for multimodal therapy, and Albert Ellis for rational emotive behavior therapy.