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The Use of Self in Therapy discusses issues of transparency and self-disclosure; how can therapists use themselves effectively in their work without transgressing on professional regulations? The authors demonstrate how to train and develop the self and person of the therapist as a powerful adjunct to successful therapy, and examine the impact of the internet and social media on the conduct of therapy.

Inspired by Daniel Stern's work on self-development, the authors suggest that by combining systemic therapy with a psychoanalytical aspect, family therapy can reach new depths. They argue that this will enrich our understanding of the relationships beween parents and children, and between siblings. There have been changes within psychoanalysis and family therapy which we believe can enrich both these theoretical fields. The idea is not to integrate but rather to bring about a mutual curiosity in these two areas, which may result in dialogues with each other and create reservoirs for ideas and practices which have been found to be useful.

The Relational Systems Model for Family Therapy presents a multi-systems approach to family therapy that teaches the therapist important self-differentiating capacities that set the tone for creating a powerful therapeutic atmosphere. While the model demands no specific treatment procedures, it does rely on the therapist’s capacity to adhere to its basic ideas, as she/he is the most vital factor in the model’s success. In The Relational Systems Model for Family Therapy, Author Donald R. Bardill encourages the therapist to be the learning vehicle for the integration of the four realities of life (self, other, context, spiritual) and the differentiating process that is necessary for human survival, safety, and growth. Understanding this model allows therapists to lead clients to heightened self-awareness and the realization of their human potential--both important factors for intellectual growth, emotional maturity, and problem solving. To this end, readers learn about: the self-differentiating therapist--the person-of-the-therapist is the crucial variable in an effective family treatment process the facing process--the client faces such issues as self-identity, life-purpose, thought and behavior patterns, emotionalized fears, and the future emotionalized right/wrong--focus is on consequences of actions rather than right/wrong judgments in relationship issues life stances--the uniqueness of the individual affects their connection to the life realities family grid--a way for the therapist to organize and talk about important family systems dynamics the therapeutic paradox--the client’s worldview is examined through the therapist’s worldview and a new worldview is formed The Relational Systems Model for Family Therapy is an important handbook for practitioners and students in the fields of clinical social work, psychology, marriage and family therapy, mental health counseling, counseling psychology, pastoral counseling, and psychiatric nursing. The book is also useful as a supplemental text for advanced undergraduate classes and postgraduate seminars in family therapy and family counseling. The self-differentiation nature of the content also lends this book useful to self-help readers.

Grounded in systemic family therapy and drawing on a variety of other models to enhance skills development, this book is a comprehensive, practical guide to working with families. This second edition is thoroughly updated and includes new chapters which cover working with First Nations Families, diversity and family therapy, understanding emotions, and dialogical reflective processes. The book begins with a focus on the therapeutic relationship and use of self as a foundation, and from there provides the reader with practical, skill-oriented guidelines for working with families. From the first session to addressing the complexities of separated parents, parent-child relational breaches, family of origin issues, wider systems, managing emotions, diversity, and much more, the book takes the reader through core practices that will become essential skills for family work. Written by an expert team of authors committed to innovative and contextual practice, this book is for experienced clinicians who want to learn to work with families and for beginning therapists to learn from a structured approach to developing complex skills.

First published in 1988. This thought-provoking volume offers a constructive critical anal­ysis of family therapy for its neglect of the self in the system, and provides a therapeutic approach to clinical problems that takes into account both individual and family dynamics. The author shows that by elevating the metaphor of the system to dogma, family therapy has lost sight of much of the richness and complicating influence of personal feeling, motivation, and conflict, resulting in a proliferation of esoteric, abstract theories and highly mechanistic, technical interventions. The Self in the System describes a different reality that is often overlooked: no matter how much their behavior is coordinated within the system, family members remain separate individuals with private hopes and ambitions, motives and expectations, quirks and foibles, and potentials for creative work. This book provides a unique approach that develops a better understanding of family members' individual experiences, and helps in enhancing their personal responsibility and ability to solve their own interactional problems within the family system. The approach, however, is not just another version of psychoanalytic family therapy, but rather one that utilizes the best tools of family therapy and the most useful ideas from individual psychology and psychodynamic psychotherapy. Chapters cover such important topics as finding the family and losing the self; the problem of change; working with interaction; the effective use of empathy; making assessments that include both the whole family system and the psychology of its members; interac­tional psychodynamics; a practical guide to object relations theory; how to develop understanding; and working with resistance.

The works of family therapists who apply Bowen family systems theory to self-differentiation in their own families.

The Person of the Therapist Training Model presents a model that prepares therapists to make active and purposeful use of who they are, personally and professionally, in all aspects of the therapeutic process—relationship, assessment and intervention. The authors take a process that seems vague and elusive, the self-of-the-therapist work, and provide a step-by-step description of how to conceptualize, structure, and implement a training program designed to facilitate the creation of effective therapists, who are skilled at using their whole selves in their encounters with clients. This book looks to make conscious and planned use of a therapist’s race, gender, culture, values, life experience, and in particular, personal vulnerabilities and struggles in how he or she relates and works with clients. This evidence-supported resource is ideal for clinicians, supervisors, and training programs.

This book encourages and trains students and practicing marriage and family therapists to bring themselves into the therapy room, offering guidelines and strategies for being more present and personal with their clients. Mental health professionals are often taught and trained that therapy is serious business, to be cautious and conservative with therapeutic decision-making, and to stick to empirically supported and specific tools in sessions. What gets lost in this positivistic, formulaic, and scientific way of working are therapists’ own unique voices, their creativity, flexibility, and the sense of playfulness that make the change process fun and upbeat. The Therapist’s Use of Self equips therapists with the skills they need to deepen their alliances with clients, to liberate themselves from an overreliance on models, and to bring their whole selves to the therapeutic encounter. Chapters cover pioneers in the field before exploring ways to bring ideas from outside the therapy room, including from music, art, literature, and film. The book includes a key chapter on teletherapy, and each chapter presents major therapeutic tools and strategies, case examples, the resulting outcomes, and key takeaways. Students of psychology, social work, nursing, and marriage and family programs, as well as mental health professionals will benefit from this book with a plethora of therapeutic tools, guidelines, and strategies for catalyzing change with even the most challenging couples and families.

Delineates the fundamental therapeutic strategies of family practice, from the definition of problems through enactment and crisis to the final resolution, and demonstrates these techniques in transcripts of actual clinical sessions.