The Use of Self in Therapy [Hardcover]

Michele Baldwin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 29, 1999 | ISBN-10: 0789007444 | ISBN-13: 978-0789007445 | Edition: 2

Explore the inner world of therapy and learn how to integrate your life experiences in the consultation room!

The Use of Self in Therapy, Second Edition explores the value of appropriate personal sharing with clients on the part of the social worker, psychologist, therapist, and physician in order to establish a trusting and powerful therapeutic bond. You will learn why this once-radical concept is now much more widely accepted and is being used with individuals, families, couples, and groups. This new edition expands upon its predecessor with new research, numerous case studies, tables, figures, interviews, and diagnostic criteria.

In this important text, you will discover how to conduct inspiring sessions that are deeply spiritual and transcendent to clients. The Use of Self in Therapy explores exposing your inner world in therapy to help clients feel comfortable enough to reveal their own vulnerabilities and life experiences, thus creating a healing atmosphere. To help you apply appropriate techniques to your own situations, The Use of Self in Therapy examines many case studies that highlight the benefits of this therapy practice and its effectiveness with a variety of clients.

Some of the areas you will explore in The Use of Self in Therapy include:

• bridging the relationship between the therapist and client(s)
• facing your own pain, finiteness, and vulnerability to assist the client with similar dilemmas
• using transference and countertransference to help heal your clients
• realizing the differences in how the self functions when working with one, two, three, or more people in a therapy session
• understanding your own yearnings, expectations, feelings, perceptions, and coping mechanisms, to help you better relate to your clients
  
  The Use of Self in Therapy is a thorough exploration of the importance of using your humanness to conduct successful therapy sessions. This intriguing text shows you the benefits of connecting and communicating with your clients beyond the outer world of theories and enables you to make positive changes in your clients’lives.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"PROVIDES AN ARRAY OF USEFUL PERSPECTIVES AND IDEAS FOR THERAPISTS, OTHER HEALTH PROFESSIONALS AND EDUCATORS who want to reflect on who they are and how they can most effectively use themselves in their efforts to be helpful to others." -- Jane Westberg, PhD, Clinical Professor of Family Medicine, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Boulder, Colorado; Associate Editor, Education for Health: Change in Learning and Practice

"THIS BOOK NEEDS TO BE READ BY PROFESSORS, THERAPISTS, AND STUDENTS OF ALL THERAPEUTIC ORIENTATIONS. . . . The various chapters encourage therapists to develop a state of being that is congruent, authentic, wholesome, loving, and possibly spiritual." -- Dr. John Banmen, R. Psych, Adjunct Professor, University of British Columbia, Co-author, The Satir Model: Family Therapy and Beyond

Product Details

• Hardcover: 326 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 2 edition (November 29, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789007444
• ISBN-13: 978-0789007445
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #991,113 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

VIRGINIA SATIR (1916-1988) was a pioneering psychotherapist, lecturer, and author; she was internationally renowned for her work, especially in the field of family therapy. Considered one of the most distinguished therapists in recent history and selected to be on the boards of numerous prestigious councils, Satir was also known for her Change Process Model, still embraced today. Time magazine once wrote of her, "She can fill any auditorium in the country." She cofounded the Mental Research Institute in Palo Alto, California, the first organization to establish a formal training program in family therapy.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent presentation of this therapeutic model, December 26, 2008

By 

Barbara "~ wren ~" (Bishop, US, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Use of Self in Therapy (Hardcover)

I ordered this book for reference material for a term paper but found it to be much more than that. The discussions of the trials, tribulations, pitfalls, and benefits of the use of self in therapeutic situations is well worth the read for any counselor or student pursuing a degree. The collection of works by different authors, each with their own unique perspective, brings home the questions of whether one should or can use the 'self' in working with others, as well as the understanding that in any therapeutic relationship the self is already present.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Use of Self in Therapy, June 25, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Use of Self in Therapy (Hardcover)

This book is a fairly good text book. It is broken down in a strategic sequence. It is fairly dry reading also, however. This is much more of a text book than a reference or for-pleasure-reading book.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Virginia Satir, June 16, 2011

By 

M "M" (usa) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Use of Self in Therapy (Hardcover)

Although Satir came highly recommended to me, by a friend who is a psychotherapist by profession, I find her books too much Art and not enough Science. So far, none of them has been worth my time or money. I have started reading this book several times, from the front to the back, from the back to the front, picking out interesting-sounding chapters in the middle, nothing helps. I am about 2/3 through it; and I think it will become the first book in decades that I have not been able to finish. Ultimately, I think that psychotherapy has made such huge scientific advances since Satir's time that these books of hers are outdated and merely of historical interest but not practical.