Beyond Technique in Solution-Focused Therapy: Working with Emotions and the Therapeutic Relationship [Hardcover]

Eve Lipchik (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1572307641 | ISBN-13: 978-1572307643 | Publication Date: May 31, 2002 | Edition: 1

Solution-focused therapy is often misunderstood to be no more than the techniques it is famous for—pragmatic, future-oriented questions that encourage clients to reconceptualize their problems and build on their strengths. Yet when applied in a "one-size-fits-all" manner, these techniques may produce disappointing results and leave clinicians wondering where they have gone wrong. This volume adds a vital dimension to the SFT literature, providing a rich theoretical framework to facilitate nonformulaic clinical decision making. The focus is on how attention to emotional issues, traditionally not emphasized in brief, strengths-based interventions, can help "unstick" difficult situations and pave the way to successful solutions.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"At last, someone has written a book that integrates the practical simplicity of solution-focused work with the crucial presence of emotion and relationship. Eve Lipchik liberates our understanding of feelings from cumbersome theoretical frameworks, and shows how they are a basic currency in the therapeutic exchange. This book is eminently practical and theoretically illuminating. I highly recommend it."--Stephen Gilligan, PhD, Private Practice; Author of Therapeutic Trances and The Courage to Love

"Rarely does a book convey its message so well or so strongly. Eve Lipchik's mantra, 'I cannot change clients, they can only change themselves,' gently recontextualizes solution-focused work. This book shows that when therapists listen to and talk about struggle and emotion--as well as strengths and hope--clients make their own changes. Eve Lipchik writes like she works, sensitively weaving her ideas through many case examples and applications, from the emotionally overwhelmed individual to violent couples, crisis situations, and long-term situations. Treat yourself to the richness and practical wisdom of her experience and perspective."--John Walter, LCSW, and Jane Peller, LCSW, authors of Recreating Brief Therapy

"In this clear yet clinically and theoretically sophisticated volume, Eve Lipchik dispels all the stereotypes of solution-focused therapy (SFT), so that even SFT skeptics will want to give the model a second look. Her version cherishes the uniqueness of clients, is nonformulaic, emotion-focused, and privileges the client-therapist relationship over technique. For Lipchik, SFT goes slowly; clients, not therapists, determine when they want to talk about solutions. Replete with rich case illustrations (which heretofore I would have assumed to be 'too complex' for SFT), the volume has left me with the imprint of a master teacher and clinician and has greatly enriched my practice. With warmth and wisdom, Lipchik shows that SFT is a living, breathing, sensitive, and evolving model."--Douglas H. Sprenkle, PhD, Marriage and Family Therapy Program, Purdue University

"In this inclusive, simply written book, studded with clinical stories like raisins in a cake, Lipchik walks the reader through a deeply unusual approach to solution-focused therapy. She has broadened the theoretical base to include the idea of love as a biological given, and adds concern for emotions to the clinician's repertory. Links are made to Sullivanian theory and to practical humanism, creating a user-friendly path to guide more traditionally trained psychotherapists. This book is a gift for therapists of all stripes and a 'must-have' for training programs and libraries."--Lynn Hoffman, ACSW, Adjunct Lecturer, St. Joseph College, West Hartford; Author of Foundations of Family Therapy and Family Therapy: An Intimate History

About the Author

Eve Lipchik, MSW, a certified member and approved supervisor of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, cofounded ICF Consultants, Inc., in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1988. Previously, she was a core member of the Brief Family Therapy Center in Milwaukee, where she participated in the development of solution-focused therapy. In addition to her private practice, she teaches, consults, and lectures both nationally and internationally. She is the editor of Interviewing and has been published in numerous books and journals, including Psychotherapy Networker, Journal of Systemic Therapies, and Family Process.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 230 pages
• Publisher: The Guilford Press; 1 edition (May 31, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572307641
• ISBN-13: 978-1572307643
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #872,604 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding!, January 7, 2010

By 

David L. Ransen - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Beyond Technique in Solution-Focused Therapy: Working with Emotions and the Therapeutic Relationship (Hardcover)

Highly recommended! Lipchik has an understanding of Solution-Focused Therapy that soars above that of most contemporary writers. She somehow manages to rise above the minutiae of therapeutic "tricks" while avoiding the trap of getting herself and her readers lost in dense theoretical analyses.

As a therapist, I keep this book within arms' length always, and consult it frequently. Amazingly, I never put the book down without having experienced some sort of epiphany -- sometimes small and sometimes of great importance.

My only wish is that I had a dozen more books as helpful as this one.

David L. Ransen, Ph.D.
[...]

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good information!, February 3, 2009

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B. Strong "Foxterriermom" (Central Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Beyond Technique in Solution-Focused Therapy: Working with Emotions and the Therapeutic Relationship (Hardcover)

Used this book as a supplemental text for a Solution Focused Brief Therapy class and I found it very useful.

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Poorly, poorly written, July 21, 2010

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sami - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Beyond Technique in Solution-Focused Therapy: Working with Emotions and the Therapeutic Relationship (Hardcover)

The amount of grammatical errors in this book makes it very difficult to read. Example, page 87 therapist "what do you think made a different for you." Page 86 "The purpose of the advantage question is to stimulate some both-and thinking because....These are but a few examples of how this author doesn't make any since in her writting. Not a recommended book at all. To confusing to read.