For an endeavour that is largely based on conversation it may seem obvious to suggest that psychotherapy is discursive. After all, therapists and clients primarily use talk, or forms of discourse, to accomplish therapeutic aims. However, talk or discourse has usually been seen as secondary to the actual business of therapy - a necessary conduit for exhanging information between therapist and client, but seldom more. Psychotherapy primarily developed by mapping particular experiential domains in ways responsive to human intervention. Only recently though has the role that discourse plays been recognized as a focus in itself for analysis and intervention. Discursive Perspectives in Therapeutic Practice presents an overview of discursive perspectives in therapy, along with an account of their conceptual underpinnings. The book starts by setting out the case for a discursive and relational approach to therapy by justaposing it to the tradition that that leads to the diagnostic approach of the DSM-V and medical psychiatry. It then presents a thorough review of a range of innovative discursive methods, each presented by an authority in their respective area. The book shows how discursive therapies can help people construct a better sense of their world, and move beyond the constraints caused by the cultural preconceptions, opinions, and values the client has about the world. The book makes a unique contribution to the philosophy and psychiatry literature in examining both the philosophical bases of discursive therapy, whilst also showing how discursive perspectives can be applied in real therapeutic situations. The book will be of great value and interest to psychotherapists and psychiatrists wishing to understand, explore, and apply these innovative techniques.

Psychotherapy is inherently discursive, yet, only recently, has the role that discourse plays in therapy been recognized as a focus in itself for analysis and intervention. Discursive Perspectives in Therapeutic Practice presents a overview of discursive perspectives in therapy, along with an account of their philosophical underpinnings.

This book addresses the premise that therapy can be understood, practiced, and researched as a discursive activity. Using varied forms of discourse analysis, it examines the cultural, institutional, and face-to-face communications that shape, and occur within, therapies that are discursively understood and practiced. By first providing an overview of commonalities across discursive therapies and research approaches, the authors discursively examine general aspects of therapy. Topics explored include subjectivity, psychological terms, institutional influences, therapeutic relationships, therapists’ ways of talking and questioning, discursive ethics, and assessment of therapeutic processes and outcomes. This book offers a macro-analysis of the conversational practices of a discursively informed approach to therapy; as well as a micro-analysis of the ways in which language shapes and is used in a discursively informed approach to therapy. This book will interest practitioners seeking to better understand therapy as a discursive process, and discourse analysts wanting to understand therapy as discursive therapists might practice it.

Family Therapy Supervision in Extraordinary Settings showcases the dynamism of systemic family therapy supervision/consultation as it expands beyond typical and historical traditions. In this unique collection, contributors write about their innovations, unexpected learnings, and “perfect accidents” in the context of systemic therapy. These essays highlight creative approaches to supervision, present a wide variety of clinical cases and therapy settings, and demonstrate how training takes place in real time. Each chapter illustrates increasingly diverse settings in which systemic family therapy services are delivered, whether in public mental health care for families across high-, low-, and middle-income countries, in areas of armed conflict or instability due to political violence or war, or stable, liberal democracies with robust public mental health systems. Each setting of supervision is extraordinary in the way it supports family therapy service delivery. Given the wide variation in access to systemic family therapy services, and the diverse settings in which systemic family therapy services are delivered, a set of brief, specific, and lively cases is called for that focus on the dynamic nature of a family therapy supervision and consultation interaction and its influence on clients, trainees, and supervisors. Working as a family therapist in the world today, an era of global mental health, is as full of wonder and challenge as it was in the time family therapy originated as a profession. It is thus no accident that supervision and consultation work is just as extraordinary. This book will be essential reading for family therapy and counseling supervisors, as well as a helpful reference for supervisees.

The topic of trauma has been covered in many books, and there are many publications covering the use of SFBT in different settings and with varied client populations. However, the convergence of these topics has, to date, been covered only minutely. Solution-Focused Brief Therapy with Clients Managing Trauma is a comprehensive overview of how Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) can be used as a treatment approach for working with clients managing various forms of trauma. It includes an overview of SFBT's basic tenets, a description of the current research supporting SFBT as an evidence-based practice, and a comparison of how SFBT clinicians may approach trauma cases differently than clinicians from other therapeutic approaches. The bulk of the text uniquely includes chapters contributed by skilled SFBT clinicians, with differing clinical expertise, sharing their knowledge and describing their strength-based, resiliency focus of applying SFBT in different traumatic circumstances. Practitioners and even Master's/doctoral students will find this text invaluable in learning how to best help traumatized clients develop a positive future and move toward healing and health.

Designed for MFT students or those just beginning in the field, this text presents a case study and provides examples of how different models of marriage and family therapy, such as brief therapies, integrative models, and strategic therapies, handle the case.

This book is a comprehensive introduction to social constructionist ideas and their application within the psychological therapies. Whether you are a trainee or qualified therapist, this book will support you to think about therapy as a socially constructed and relational process, and to develop as a more culturally, socially and politically aware practitioner. It advocates for ‘therapist activists’ who understand the interplay between the micro and the macro in therapeutic contexts and debunks the idea of the ‘isolated client’ to examine how broader societal conditions create problems for the individual. Chapters are designed to engage, offering a variety of features to support learning, including: - Introductory and concluding chapter summaries - Textboxes summarising content & spotlighting key information - Case studies and vignettes throughout - Reflective questions & thought-provoking exercises - Recommended Further Reading. This book has wide applicability, with author affiliations across both North and South America - the University of New Hampshire in the US and the Federal University of Uberlandia in Brazil.

Combining social therapeutics with the practice of coaching, this book guides coaches and mental health professionals in how to coach groups and couples using this innovative method. Drawing from the authors’ combined 50 years of experience, Social Therapeutic Coaching: A Practical Guide to Group and Couples Work empowers practitioners to break away from focusing on individual change to focusing on groups and their emotional growth. Early chapters touch on the history of coaching and powerful discoveries of social therapeutics before diving into how to lead a social therapeutic group. Sackett and Dabby explain how to incorporate the concept of human relationality into coaching sessions, demonstrating how it extends group work beyond assembling like-minded individuals with similar goals into bringing together diverse people with diverse issues that they want to work on and grow around. It also brings a fresh lens to working with couples, in which the focus is on discovering what "the relationship" needs, rather than trying to get individuals to compromise, change or work towards a preconceived shared vision for an end goal. Written in an accessible style and filled with extensive case studies and examples, Social Therapeutic Coaching provides a powerful toolkit for coaches, counselors, psychotherapists, social workers, HR and talent development professionals, community-based leaders and social entrepreneurs.

Families come in all shapes and sizes, and all have love at their roots; however, by the time a family requests help from a psychotherapist, resentment, fear and disappointment have often become the dominant forces ruling everyday life. Moving away from the medically-focused 'problem-diagnosis-treatment' model of psychotherapy, Peter Rober's thought-provoking new text conceptualises family therapy as a dialogue between living, breathing people; it emphasises the mutuality and relational context that serves as the backdrop of a therapeutic encounter, whereby family members will interact, emotions will be displayed and suppressed, and practitioners will need to navigate carefully, endeavouring not just to listen but to understand the stories being told. Astute and engaging throughout, each chapter provides close analysis of a rich variety of case studies, combined with an examination of key theories and concepts from different schools of thought in family therapy; with a particular focus on dialogical thinking, the book explores the ways in which these theoretical concepts can be applied in everyday practice situations. Written by a leading expert in the field, this insightful new addition to Palgrave's Basic Texts in Counselling and Psychotherapy series provides an accessible exploration of a complex area of practice. It will prove invaluable reading for those studying family therapy specifically, as well as students taking more general counselling and psychotherapy courses and practitioners looking for a fresh source of guidance.

This book is the result of a collaboration between a number of authors working as a European Brief Therapy Association (EBTA) task-group. This is the 2020 state of the art version of understanding and learning Solution-Focused Practice. It is applicable to various fields of practice, such as therapy, coaching, supervision, social change, educational work, leadership, and other contexts where a detailed understanding of how to manage and promote change in social systems and communities is of intended. The book presents a coherent theory of solution-focused practice for those who want to understand the rationale, together with a comprehensive description of solution-focused practice that can be used in daily practice or training and for developmental purposes. Theory here is defined as a process theory describing how the solution-focused practice is done, together with explanations of how and why the change process is initiated. This book is also a statement of what solution-focused practice is and what are the sound reasons to use it.