The Use of Self in Therapy (Second Edition)

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 clientsThe 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.

• About the Editor
• Contributors
• Foreword
•  Preface
• Introduction
•  Chapter 1. The Therapist Story
• The Role of Self in Therapy
• Power and Therapy
• The Positive Use of the Self
• My Use of My Self
• Chapter 2. Interview with Carl Rogers on the Use of the Self in Therapy
•  Chapter 3. Some Philosophical and Psychological Contributions to the Use of Self in Therapy
• Introduction
• The Concept of the Self
• The Contributions of Existential Philosophy
• The Concept of the Self in Psychoanalysis and Psychiatry
• The Influence of Existential Philosophy on Psychotherapy
• Some Thoughts on the Use of Self in Psychotherapy
• Chapter 4. Revealing Our Selves
• Why Self-Disclosure?
• Guidelines and Suggestions
• Risks of Self-Disclosure
• Benefits from Risking Openness
• The Pull of a Style
• Medical Practice
• Psychiatry and Psychoanalysis
• Child Psychiatry and Family Therapy
• Chapter 5. The Differing Selves
• Chapter 6. Uses of Self in Integrated Contextual Systems Therapy
• An Integrated Contextual Systems Model
• Implications for the Trainee and Training
• Problem-Solving Anecdotes: Interventions from My Life
• One-Person Sculpture Fleshed Out
• Rope As Metaphor for “Betweenness”
•  Chapter 7. The Person and Practice of the Therapist: Treatment and Training
• Fundamental Therapeutic Skills
• Theoretical Framework
• Training Models for the Person of the Therapist
• Goals in Training the Person of the Therapist
• Person-Practice Training Format
• Transcripts from a Trainee's Presentation
• Conclusion
•  Chapter 8. Use of Multicultural Self for Effective Practice
• Introduction
• Defining the Multicultural Self
• Multicultural Self As Person
• Multicultural Self As Professional
•  Chapter 9. Are All Therapists Alike? Revisiting Research About the Use of Self in Therapy
• Therapists' Definition and Awareness of Self
• Critical Aspects of Therapeutic Relationships
• Personal Characteristics Related to Use-of-Self Patterns
• Summary
• Chapter 10. Differential Use of Self by Therapists Following Their Own Trauma Experiences
• Introduction
• Method
• Findings
• Disconnection
• Use of Self in Redefining Connections with Clients
• Meaning Making: A New Integration
• Conclusion
•  Chapter 11. Implications of the Wounded Healer Paradigm for the Use of Self in Therapy
• Introduction
• Polarities
• The Myth of the Wounded-Healer
• Recent Interest in the Wounded-Healer Paradigm
• A Model for Viewing the Healing Process
• Critical Elements in the Healing Process
• Related Considerations
• Summary
•  Chapter 12. The Self in Family Therapy: A Field Guide
• Some Features of the Personal Self
• The Self As It Appears in Therapy
• Summary
• Chapter 13. I Look for I: The Self of the Therapist--Part II
• A Bridge Over Nonlogical Waters
• This Self in Psychotherapy
• A Developmental Schema for Distinguishing Among Psychotherapies
• My Computer As a Model for Me Gaining Access to Myself
• Epilogue
• Index
• Reference Notes Included