Handbook of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy with Jewish-American Youth

This book provides a robust theoretical, empirically based, and practical guide for delivering cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to Jewish-American youth and their families. It is rooted in traditional CBT practices, addressing a neglected area of clinical competency, clinical training, and supervision. The chapters integrate CBT with multiple religious cultural variations affecting this heterogeneous population, dispelling a one-size-fits-all mentality. The volume considers all the major diagnoses impacting pediatric patients and their caregivers (e.g., depression, anxiety, disruptive behavior disorders, eating disorders) and details contextual variations. It concludes with various creative CBT-based interventions for Jewish youth and delineates cautions, recommendations, and future directions for theory, research, and clinical applications.
Key areas of coverage include:
- Major principles and practices associated with CBT and DBT.
- Basic elements of various psychiatric conditions.
- Explanation of various Judaic values, principles, text, teachings, cultural idioms, and practice.
- Innovative adaptations of traditional CBT spectrum techniques and therapeutic processes.
The Handbook of CBT with Jewish-American Youth is an essential resource for clinicians, therapists, and other professionals as well as researchers, professors, and graduate students in developmental, clinical child, and school psychology, child and adolescent psychiatry, pediatrics, social work, behavioral therapy/rehabilitation, nursing, and special education.

Robert D. Friedberg, Ph.D., ABPP, obtained his doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology –San Diego and completed his postdoctoral fellowship at the Center for Cognitive Therapy-Newport Beach under the direction of Dr. Christine Padesky. He was the lead psychologist on the Cognitive Therapy Unit at Mesa Vista Hospital in San Diego, which was the first inpatient cognitive therapy unit west of the Mississippi River, where he worked with Dr. Raymond A Fidaleo. Dr. Friedberg then spent nine-and-half-years at Wright State University School of Professional Psychology, where he served as Director of Internship Training and directed the Preventing Anxiety and Depression in Youth Program. Following his time at Wright State, he joined the faculty of Penn State Milton Hershey Medical Center, where he directed the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Program for Children and Adolescents and the Psychology Post-Doctoral Training Program from 2003-2011. In 2005, he was an Extra-Mural Scholar at the Beck Institute for CBT, where he trained with Drs. Aaron. T. Beck, Judith S. Beck, and Leslie Sokol. He recently retired as a tenured Full Professor from Palo Alto University. Currently, he works as an independent training consultant in CBT. He is a Board Certified Diplomate in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (ABPP), a Founding Fellow of the Academy of Cognitive Therapy, a Fellow of APA DIV 53 (Clinical Child Psychology), and a Fellow of the Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy. Dr. Friedberg is the author of 13 books including the best-selling Clinical Practice of Cognitive Therapy with Children and Adolescents (2015 with Jessica McClure), Cognitive Therapy Techniques with Children and Adolescents (with Jessica McClure and Jolene Hilwig-Garcia), Handbook of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Pediatric Medical Conditions (with Jennifer Paternostro), CBT with Youth (with Brad Nakamura), and Creative applications of CBT with youth (with Erica Rozmid) as well as many journal articles, book chapters, and national and international presentations.
Nico Socolovsky, M.A., is the Senior Rabbi of Congregation Shir Hadash in Los Gatos (South Bay) CA. An Argentinian born and Israeli by choice, he is an educator, community builder, and musician. Rabbi Socolovsky graduated from Haifa University with a B.A. in Educational Management and an M.A. in Jewish Philosophy. After studying in the HUC’s Israeli Rabbinical program in Israel and New York, he was ordained as a Rabbi in Jerusalem in 2013. In 2021, Rabbi Socolovsky earned the title of Executive Scholar in Non-Profit Management from the Kellogg School of Business and is also a fellow at CLI (Hazon) Clergy Leadership Incubator, focusing on adaptive leadership and institutional innovation. In 2010, he founded Shchuniya, a center for Jewish renaissance in Haifa. Rabbi Socolovsky directed the Center for Economic Rights in Hadera for RHR (Rabbis for Human Rights) and from 2013 to 2015, he served various communities across Southeast Asia while residing in Singapore. Between 2015 and 2022, he was the Senior Rabbi of Temple Beth Tikvah in Orange County, CA, where he also held leadership positions with the OC Board of Rabbis, the Fullerton Interfaith Ministerial Association, Hillel, and the Jewish Federation. Rabbi Socolovsky is a delegate for the World Zionist Congress.