Conversation, Language, and Possibilities: A Postmodern Approach to Therapy Hardcover - 1997

First line

My collaborative approach to therapy has evolved from the various flows of the countless"therapy" conversations and conversations about "therapy" that I have taken part in over these years with clients, colleagues, and myself as we tried to describe and explain our experiences to ourselves and to others.

From the rear cover

Drawing on her experiences as a practitioner and teacher and on her clients' experiences of therapy, Harlene Anderson joins social thinkers who challenge the familiar culture of psychotherapy, including the foundations on which its theory, practice, research, and therapist education have been based. Anderson directly challenges the expert-nonexpert dichotomy and hierarchical structures that flow from it. She asserts that conventional premises and practices have lost their relevance in a world of rapid social transformation, and calls instead for a philosophy of therapy and a way of being in client relationships that invite collaboration. Conversation, Language, and Possibilities forges surprising links between postmodern theory and collaborative clinical practice. In this framework, human systems are viewed as systems of language and communication. Clients' voices are privileged. And language is generative in shaping - and reshaping - human life and relationships, creating potentials for positive change as infinite in variety and expression as the individuals who realize them.