A Guide to Possibility Land: Fifty-One Methods for Doing Brief, Respectful Therapy (Paperback)

~ Sandy Beadle (Author), Bill O'Hanlon (Author), Sandy Beade (Author) "Acceptance and change. Acceptance and change. Remember these two words, because they are the essential components of therapy..." (more)
Key Phrases: possibility therapy, brief therapy, Milton Erickson, Don Juan

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Tested, practical methods that help people reconnect with their sense of hope and possibility. Possibility therapy, originated by Bill O'Hanlon, is about acknowledging and validating clients' felt experience and ideas about their lives while ensuring that possibilities for change are discovered and amplified. The book outlines this humorous, compassionate approach to action-oriented therapy. Each method is defined, explained, and illustrated in a page or two. By the end the reader has a huge selection of strategies and an enlightening map of possibility land.

About the Author

Sandy Beadle writes informational articles and software programs.

William Hudson O’Hanlon, is a founder of Possibility and Inclusive Therapies and is the author or coauthor of more than twenty books, including Do One Thing Different. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co.; 1 edition (April 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393702979
• ISBN-13: 978-0393702972
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #325,332 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As a psychologist I find this an intriging and useful book, August 21, 1999

By A Customer

This book presents a powerful, positive approach to working with clients. O'Hanlon is truly a visionary who has helped create an approach to working with clients that is positive, affirming, and solution focused. He has helped create an approach that focuses on solutions rather than pathology. This book (and all of his others) should be required reading for new and experienced therapists. Buy a copy for a friend.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A vade mecum for creating possibilities, April 9, 2001

By	George Zee (www.frzee.org, Hong Kong) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I gave 4 stars in an earlier review which was lost in the transfer. After re-reading the book, I like it even more. This is not a book that some people will take to right away. It is more like notes or hand-out on 51 therapeutic techniques. The line drawings of animals by Sandy Beadle have nothing to do with the content. The authors admit that this is a "weird collaboration". When you look through the book again and again, the animals take on personality and emotions. It is amazing that a few simple lines can be so expressive. You can just enjoy the art-work. The sketchy descriptions of each method, with "defintion, rational, examples", are like the line drawings, simple in outline, but very rich in meaning. They follow the general order of O'Hanlon's Possibility Therapy: 1. Acknowledgement and Possibility. 2. Change the Viewing. 3. Problems and Goals. 4. Resources. 5. Change the Doing. You get the flavour of O'Hanlon's wisdom, his use of stories and simple language and his sense of humour. You can easily understand why he has been so popular and successful and even appeared on Oprah's Show. These methods can possibly be developed into game cards not only for therapists, but for anyone interested in growth. With any skills, we need to practise. This book helps us to practise in smaller steps and acquire new outlooks and behavior for a more creative living.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great resource to bring a fresh perspective to your work!, November 8, 2002

By	Beth Cholette "doctor_beth" (Upstate NY USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I'm a psychologist practicing in a college counseling center, and I love this book! This slim, easy-to-read volume contains a plethora of strategies which encourage you to view client problems from a new, solutions-oriented perspective. Each strategy is presented in a simple, one-page description that includes both a rationale for the technique as well as specific examples of how to use the technique with clients. The strategies are divided into five main categories: Carl Rogers with a Twist, Change the Viewing, Map Problem and Goals, Connect with Internal and External Resources, and Change the Doing. The book is laced with humor--e.g., goofy drawings and therapist lightbulb jokes at the end--and the techniques themselves frequently illustrate how to draw humor into the therapeutic process. At times, O'Hanlon seems to take this a bit too far, with the risk being that his methods will appear invalidating to the client, but I believe that his strategies can be adapted so that this is not the case. Furthermore, the tools offered in this book are compatible with all theoretical orientations and presenting problems. This is an excellent book for helping all therapists stay fresh and engaged in their work, and it is the one therapy handbook that I always turn to when I'm feeling stuck with a client.