Synopsis

In this unique book, noted family therapists Jeffrey L. Zimmerman and Victoria C. Dickerson explore how clients' problems are defined by personal and cultural narratives, and ways the therapist can assist clients in co-constructing and reauthoring narratives to fit their preferences. The authors share their therapeutic vision through a series of stories, fictionalized discussions, and minidramas, in which problems have a voice. Written in an engaging and personal style, the book challenges many dominant ideas in psychotherapy, inviting the reader to enter a world in which she or he can experience a radically different view of problems, people, and therapy. A wealth of stories told from the clients' point of view illustrate the creative ways they begin to deal with problems: Individuals escape them, couples take their relationships back from problems, kids dump their problems, and teenagers work with their parents to fight their problems. Training and supervision from the perspective of students are also discussed. As entertaining as it is informative, this book will be welcomed by family therapists both novice and experienced, from a range of orientations. Offering a creative and accessible approach to clinical work, it also serves as a supplementary text in courses on family and narrative therapy.

Booknews

Explores how clients' problems are defined by personal and cultural narratives, and looks at the ways therapists can assist clients in co- constructing and reauthoring narratives to fit their preferences. Various problems are given voice through a series of stories and fictionalized discussions seen through the eyes of clients in couples, individual, child, and adolescent therapy. Also discusses training and supervision from the perspective of students. For family therapists. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Biography

Jeffrey L. Zimmerman Ph.D., and Victoria C. Dickerson, Ph.D., co-direct Bay Area Family Therapy Training Associates in Cupertino, California, and train the Narrative Family Therapy Externship at the Mental Research Institute in Palo Alto. Widely published, they have collaborated on book chapters and many articles, which have appeared in Family Process, Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, Journal of Systemic Family Therapies, and Dulwich Centre Newsletter. They are coauthors of this book, making different but equal contributions to its creation.