Creative Breakthroughs in Therapy E-Book

Jeffrey A. Kottler

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 477

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2009

Beschreibung

An invitation to observe and achieve transformative breakthroughs in the therapeutic experience Creative Breakthroughs in Therapy: Tales of Transformation and Astonishment brings together nineteen of the world's most prominent and creative therapists and researchers, taking professionals inside each contributor's creative innovations in theory and technique. Designed for all therapists who wish to communicate their therapeutic messages creatively and effectively, authors Jeffrey Kottler and Jon Carlson invite you to be inspired from the observations of your peers and consider how these approaches might be applied to your own work. Drawn from real-life cases, contributors share stories of their most creative breakthroughs, demonstrating out-of-the-box thinking that freed them to create alternative ways of meeting their clients? needs. Creative Breakthroughs in Therapy: Tales of Transformation and Astonishment will motivate you to experiment as an agent of change, exploring new, creative ways to make a difference in people's lives, with wisdom from some of the world?s foremost authorities including: Stephen Lankton, Bradford Keeney, Sam Gladding, Steve Madigan, Michael Yapko, Scott Miller, Jeff Zeig, Judy Jordan, Robert Neimeyer, Laura Brown, Bill O'Hanlon, Cloe Madanes, Len Sperry, Fred Bemak, Nancy McWilliams, Nick Cummings and Alfonso Montuori The stories in this book represent seminal cases in which eminent practitioners in therapy and related fields express their own unique voices as clinicians. The book focuses on what led each clinician to a creative breakthrough and identifies the common variables--across all the stories--that might promote innovation in the future. Their experiences will inspire every therapist to discover their own creative path.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

PREFACE

Acknowledgements

CONTRIBUTORS

CHAPTER 1 - A PERSONAL INTRODUCTION TO CREATIVITY IN THERAPY

Healing a Broken Heart

The Difference between Being Lost and Found

CHAPTER 2 - STEPHEN LANKTON: AMBIGUITY, RELEVANCE, AND THE CREEPING DEVILS

The Balance between Ambiguity and Relevance

An Unexpected Assignment

There Will Always Be Creeping Devils

Creating Meaning

Playing with Spoons: An Ambiguous Function Assignment

CHAPTER 3 - BRADFORD KEENEY: CREATING NONSENSE THROUGH CONNECTIONS OF LOVE

Counseling in the Dark

A Birthday Party That Doesn’t Make Sense

The Deer Head That Hadn’t Been Named

The Deer Head Writes a Letter

The Fish Get Named, Too

The Deer Head Starts a Business

Creating Nonsense

CHAPTER 4 - SAM GLADDING: BEING UNSTUCK WITHOUT BECOMING UNGLUED

Staring out the Window

Special Delivery in the Mailbox

Creativity as Transformative

Getting Out of a Rut

CHAPTER 5 - STEVE MADIGAN: THERAPY AS COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS

Asking Some Counterviewing Questions

Stubborn Hope

A Letter-Writing Campaign

A Community Defeats the Problem

From Personal Experience, an Idea Is Born

Creativity Is Contagious

CHAPTER 6 - MICHAEL YAPKO: YOU DON’T LEARN THIS STUFF IN GRADUATE SCHOOL

The Perfect Son

Don’t Ask People for What They Don’t Have

Hypnosis to Cement the Gains

Perceiving Unhabitually

The Primacy of Experience

The Lingering Effects of the Story

CHAPTER 7 - SCOTT MILLER: I HAVE CREATIVE CLIENTS

Opening the Blinds

Supershrinks

Far End of the Curve

A Run of Bad Luck

Hoping for Magic

It’s the Clients Who Are Creative

Utilizing Client Resources

Postscript

CHAPTER 8 - JEFF ZEIG: A WHITE, FLUFFY CLOUD AND A DISSOCIATIVE MOMENT

So, the Devil Was Strolling through Hell

Moments of Utilization

Hands Do the Talking

Moment-to-Moment Creativity

Intervention Is the Assessment

What Is Creativity?

CHAPTER 9 - JUDY JORDAN: WHAT ABOUT LOVE?

Relational Creativity

It’s All about Relationships

Betrayal by Diagnosis

Mystery, Doubt, and Uncertainty

Staying Fully Present

CHAPTER 10 - ROBERT NEIMEYER: A LITTLE HUG FROM HEAVEN

Hello rather than Goodbye

An Interesting Shift

Hide-and-Seek

Mother Speaks Words of Wisdom

Experiential Intensity

Relishing Uncertainty

Honoring the Creative Work

CHAPTER 11 - LAURA BROWN: WORKING IN A BOX

Stuck in a Box

Hobbit Courage

Walking Off a Cliff

“Oh Dear. Bad Me.”

CHAPTER 12 - BILL O’HANLON: FALLING ON YOUR FACE

Early Years

The Call to Be Creative

Gardening the Nut Grass

Blissed Out

Leap of Faith

CHAPTER 13 - CLOÉ MADANES: A TRILOGY OF COURAGE

1. Diagnosis: Artistic Temperament

2. Mixing Work with Pleasure

3. It’s All about Love

Against Conventional Wisdom

CHAPTER 14 - LEN SPERRY: ACCESSING THE CREATIVE SELF

The Birds Flew Away

It’s Not about Me

Awakening Memories

CHAPTER 15 - FRED BEMAK: GETTING PEOPLE UP OFF THE FLOOR

Frozen on the Floor

Taste of Chocolate

A Cross-Cultural Exorcism

CHAPTER 16 - NANCY MCWILLIAMS: THE WISDOM OF NOT KNOWING

Whose Side Are You On?

A More Mature Version of Empathy

Mistakes of the Heart

CHAPTER 17 - NICK CUMMINGS: A NARRATIVE HISTORY OF CREATIVITY IN ACTION

First, a Bit of History

The Couches Are Taken Away

We Started Listening

Struggle for Survival

CHAPTER 18 - ALFONSO MONTUORI: CREATIVE INQUIRY AND DISCOVERING THE UNFORESEEN

Self-Actualizing Creativity

Improvisation

Creative Attitudes

CHAPTER 19 - SOME CREATIVE THEMES

Historical Legacies

What It Takes to Be More Creative as a Therapist

CHAPTER 20 - CLINICAL APPLICATIONS

Creativity among Mortals

Jeffrey Kottler: A Study of Creativity in Action

Jon Carlson: They All Inspired Me

Creativity for Its Own Sake

Just One More Point before We End

REFERENCES

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Copyright © 2009 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, [phone], fax [phone], or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, [phone], fax [phone].

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. In all instances where John Wiley & Sons, Inc. is aware of a claim, the product names appear in initial capital or all capital letters. Readers, however, should contact the appropriate companies for more complete information regarding trademarks and registration.

For general information on our other products and services please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at [phone], outside the United States at [phone] or fax [phone].

Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. For more information about Wiley products, visit our website at www.wiley.com.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA:

Kottler, Jeffrey A.

Creative breakthroughs in therapy : tales of transformation and astonishment / Jeffrey A. Kottler, Jon Carlson.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

eISBN : 978-0-470-48713-6

1. Psychotherapy. I. Carlson, Jon. II. Title.

RC480.R668 2009

616.89’14—dc22

2009024943

PREFACE

Whereas the experience of being a therapist can often seem routine—dealing with similar issues, telling well-worn stories, using standard skills, applying favored methods—occasionally there are moments, even whole sessions, that appear miraculous in their innovation. During such creative breakthroughs, therapists find themselves saying or doing things that have never been done before. They have crossed a threshold from the familiar into completely unknown territory, a place where it feels as if a new voice has been discovered.

In theory, therapists are supposed to treat each client as a unique individual. Each session is supposed to be a novel experience in which the strategy formulated, and the means to carry out that treatment, is custom-tailored to fit the requirements of the situation and particular needs of the client at that moment in time.

Unfortunately, after years of practice, clinicians sometimes slip into familiar patterns, doing what has essentially been done before, albeit in slightly new formulations. Yet there are also those rare circumstances when we are faced with situations we haven’t seen before, or when we have already exhausted everything we already know how to do—all without noticeable effect. We may feel frustrated and confused, at a loss as to what to do next.

It would be nice under such circumstances if there were a supervisory team on the other side of a one-way mirror, always available to offer brilliant new ideas for us to introduce. But, alas, we are on our own, feeling stuck and discouraged.

All therapists have had the experience, admittedly rare, when everything we already know how to do has failed us, and worse, failed the client. We can hear the voices in our heads of all our previous and current supervisors giving advice. We take inventory of our repertoire of interventions and find the stores are now empty. Yet the client waits. For something. For relief. For deliverance.

It is then that we are faced with opportunities to create something wholly new, to cross into another whole realm of possibilities. We are no longer following a familiar path, imitating a mentor, or repeating what we have seen or done previously. We have become our own guide.

The best therapy we have ever done, and will ever do, is like creating a work of art, if not a masterpiece. We weave together disparate themes that begin to form patterns. We create new ways of explaining things. We invent alternative ways to make a difference. We speak in ways so powerful that we can hardly believe that the voice is our own.

And it is not just our clients who experience breakthroughs that alter their reality forever after, but we are different as well—not just in the ways that we work, but also in the ways we relate to the world.

In this volume, we have recruited many of the world’s most accomplished theoreticians and practitioners in the field, especially those who are known for their creative innovations in theory or technique. We have selected them based on the breadth and depth of their clinical experience and the influence of their published work, as well as their diversity in approach, style, and personal characteristics. We invited psychiatrists, psychologists, counselors, social workers, and family therapists to participate. We selected therapists representing many of the major schools of thought, including Adlerian, existential, narrative, feminist, cognitive-behavioral, relational-cultural, Ericksonian, constructivist, psychoanalytic, solution-focused, and person-centered. Some still work exclusively as clinicians, while others now spend the majority of their time as supervisors, academics, researchers, authors, and consultants. They represent different ages, generations, cultures, genders, sexual orientations, geographical regions, clinical settings, and perspectives. What they all have in common is a commitment to pushing the edge of their work, devising new, more creative ways to make a difference in people’s lives.

We have asked them to tell us a story of their most creative breakthrough. Each was asked to talk to us about a baffling case that led to a breakthrough for them, as well as for their clients. These stories demonstrate out-of-the-box thinking that frees people to create alternative ways of meeting their needs.

This book is all about how to be creative and a constructive risk taker, going to places where others have not gone before. Each chapter explores some of the following questions:

• How and why did the situation call for such a radical, innovative approach to a problem?

• How do extraordinarily talented and creative therapists give themselves permission to experiment as change agents?

• How did their clients respond to their unusual interventions?

• What adjustments were made to customize the approach to the client?

• Where did the germ of this novel idea originate? How did the creative process unfold?

• What is the best understanding for how and why this approach actually worked (if it did)?

• What were some of the concerns, apprehensions, reservations, feelings, and thoughts after attempting this intervention that crossed the usual boundaries of what is expected or acceptable?

• How does this particular case example instruct and inform others to be more creative in their own change efforts or to promote them in others?

After presenting the 18 stories that we have written, based on interviews with the participants, we then discuss the universal themes that emerged, as well as the implications for professionals wishing to infuse greater creativity in their lives and work. We hope you will agree that the cases in this book are not only interesting and entertaining, but that they inspire and encourage each of us to promote more creative breakthroughs.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We are most grateful to Lisa Gebo, our original editor and friend, who helped craft the idea for this project in collaboration with our agent, Claire Gerus. Special thanks to Peggy Alexander and Marquita Flemming at Wiley, who have worked with us to complete the project.

Debbie Nelson and Suzanne Lindner were instrumental in this project, typing all the transcripts based on interviews with some very fast talkers. Finally, we are grateful to all our contributors, who were so generous and open in sharing their stories of creative innovation.

Jeffrey Kottler Huntington Beach, California

Jon Carlson Lake Geneva, Wisconsin

CONTRIBUTORS

Fred Bemak, Ph.D., is a professor in the Graduate School of Education and the director and cofounder of the Diversity Research and Action Center at George Mason University. Bemak has done extensive consultation, training, and supervision with mental health professionals and organizations throughout the United States and internationally in more than 30 countries. He is a past Fulbright scholar, World Rehabilitation Fund Fellow, Kellogg International Fellow, and American Psychological Association Visiting Psychologist. He has published more than 80 book chapters and professional journal articles and coauthored four books.

Laura Brown, Ph.D., is a clinical and forensic psychologist specializing in culturally competent work with survivors of trauma. In addition to her many publications, she is featured in three APA psychotherapy videos. She is the founder and director of the Fremont Community Therapy Project, a low-fee training clinic in Seattle, where she lives with her partner and her canine cotherapist, and is moving slowly through the belts of aikido.

Nicholas A. Cummings, Ph.D., Sc.D., a past president of the American Psychological Association, is known for predicting the future of psychology practice during the past 60 years and also for helping to create it. Cummings not only designed and implemented the nation’s first prepaid psychotherapy insurance, but also launched the professional school movement with the four campuses of the California School of Professional Psychology (now Alliant University). He founded American Biodyne, the first and only managed behavioral health organization completely managed by psychologists. He is now Distinguished Professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, and president of the Cummings Foundation for Behavioral Health. He is the author or coauthor of 46 books and has published more than 450 refereed journal articles.

Samuel T. Gladding, Ph.D., is chair and professor in the Department of Counseling at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. His leadership in the field of counseling includes service as president of the American Counseling Association (ACA), Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES), the Association for Specialists in Group Work (ASGW), and Chi Sigma Iota. He is the former editor of the Journal for Specialists in Group Work and the author of more than 100 professional publications, including 29 books.

Judith V. Jordan, Ph.D., is the director of the Jean Baker Miller Training Institute and Founding Scholar of the Stone Center at Wellesley College, where she and her colleagues have been developing Relational-Cultural Theory (RCT) since the late 1970s. She is an assistant professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School, served as the director of Psychology Training at Mclean Hospital, and was the founding director of the Women’s Treatment Program there. Jordan coauthored Women’s Growth in Connection and edited Women’s Growth in Diversity and The Complexity of Connection. She is committed to shifting the prevailing paradigm in psychology from one that reveres separation and “the separate self” to one that appreciates the centrality of connection in people’s lives.

Bradford Keeney, Ph.D., has followed an academic career as a systems theorist and psychotherapist. He spent over a decade traveling the globe, living with spiritual teachers, shamans, healers, and medicine people to study and describe their experiences. The result of Keeney’s work is one of the broadest and most intense field studies of healing and shamanism, chronicled in the book series Profiles of Healing, an 11-volume encyclopedia of the world’s healing practices. Keeney presently conducts his clinical work at the Center for Children and Families, Monroe, Louisiana. He also serves as professor of Transformative Studies, California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco; Honorary Senior Research Fellow, Rock Art Research Institute, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa; and founding director of the Bushman (San) N/om-Kxaosi Ethno-graphic Project, Institute for Religion and Health, Texas Medical Center, Houston.

Stephen R. Lankton, M.S.W., DAHB, is a licensed clinical social worker in Phoenix, Arizona. He is editor of the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis and executive director of the Phoenix Institute of Ericksonian Therapy. Lankton is faculty associate at Arizona State University, Diplomate in Clinical Hypnosis, past president of the American Hypnosis Board for Clinical Social Work, and a Fellow and Approved Consultant of the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis. He is author of 17 books, with translations in several languages, regarding techniques of hypnosis, family therapy, and brief therapy. He has a clinical practice in Phoenix and trains professionals internationally.

Cloé Madanes is a world-renowned innovator and teacher of family and brief therapy and one of the originators of the strategic approach to family therapy. She has authored five books, including Strategic Family Therapy; Behind the One-Way Mirror; Sex, Love, and Violence; The Secret Meaning of Money; and The Violence of Men. She has won several awards for distinguished contributions to psychology and has counseled outstanding individuals from all walks of life. Her books have been translated into more than 10 languages.

Stephen Madigan, M.S.W., Ph.D., opened Yaletown Family Therapy in Vancouver, Canada, as the first narrative therapy clinic and training site in the Northern Hemisphere. In June 2007, the American Family Therapy Academy (AFTA) honored Madigan with its Distinguished Award for Innovative Practice in Family Therapy Theory and Practice. He has worked with the American Psychological Association (APA) to write the “primer” for narrative therapy and to produce a seven-part DVD featuring his “live” narrative therapy work. Madigan designs and produces the Therapeutic Conversations conferences and teaches narrative therapy training workshops worldwide on a regular basis.

Nancy McWilliams, Ph.D., teaches at Rutgers University’s Graduate School of Applied & Professional Psychology and has a private practice in Flemington, New Jersey. She is author of Psychoanalytic Diagnosis, Psychoanalytic Case Formulation, and Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy and is associate editor of the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual. She is president of Division 39 (Psychoanalysis) of the American Psychological Association and is on the editorial boards of Psychoanalytic Psychology and The Psychoanalytic Review.

Scott D. Miller, Ph.D., is a cofounder of the Institute for the Study of Therapeutic Change, a private group of clinicians and researchers dedicated to studying what works in mental health and substance abuse treatment. Miller, the author of numerous articles, is also coauthor of several books, including Working with the Problem Drinker: A Solution-Focused Approach; Escape from Babel: Toward a Unifying Language for Psychotherapy Practice; The Heart and Soul of Change: What Works in Therapy; and The Heroic Client: A Revolutionary Way to Improve Effectiveness through Client-Directed, Outcome-Informed Therapy.

Alfonso Montuori, Ph.D., is professor and department chair of the graduate programs in transformative studies and leadership at California Institute of Integral Studies. He was a Distinguished Professor in the School of Fine Arts at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and taught at the Central South University in Hunan, China. A former professional musician, he is the author of several books and numerous articles on creativity and complexity. Montuori is principal of Evolutionary Strategies, a consulting firm focusing on creativity and executive development. He lives in San Francisco.

Robert A. Neimeyer, Ph.D., is a professor and director of psychotherapy research in the Department of Psychology, University of Memphis, where he also maintains an active clinical practice. Neimeyer has published 20 books, including Meaning Reconstruction and the Experience of Loss; Lessons of Loss: A Guide to Coping; and Rainbow in the Stone, a book of contemporary poetry. The author of more than 300 articles and book chapters, he is currently working to advance a more adequate theory of grieving as a meaning-making process, both in his published work and through his frequent professional workshops for national and international audiences.

Bill O’Hanlon, M.S., LMFT, has authored or coauthored 29 books, the latest being A Guide to Trance Land; Write Is a Verb; Pathways to Spirituality; Change 101: A Practical Guide to Creating Change; and Thriving Through Crisis. O’Hanlon is a Licensed Mental Health Professional, Certified Professional Counselor, and a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. He is known for his storytelling, irreverent humor, clear and accessible style, and his boundless enthusiasm for whatever he is doing.

Len Sperry, M.D., Ph.D., who has practiced, taught, and researched psychotherapy for nearly 40 years, is a professor of mental health counseling at Florida Atlantic University and a clinical professor of psychiatry at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Sperry is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, a Fellow in the American Psychological Association, and board-certified in both psychiatry and clinical psychology. He serves on the editorial boards of 10 professional journals and has published some 500 articles and books.

Michael D. Yapko, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist and marriage and family therapist in Fallbrook, California, is the author of numerous books, book chapters, and articles on the subjects of hypnosis and the use of strategic psychotherapies in treating depression. Internationally recognized for his work in outcome-focused psychotherapy, Yapko routinely teaches professional audiences all over the world. He is the recipient of numerous awards honoring his lifetime contributions to the fields of clinical hypnosis and psychotherapy.

Jeffrey K. Zeig, Ph.D., is the founder and director of the Milton H. Erickson Foundation. He has edited, coedited, authored, or coauthored more than 20 books on psychotherapy that appear in 11 foreign languages. Zeig is the architect of The Evolution of Psychotherapy Conferences, which are considered the most important conferences in the history of psychotherapy. He organizes the Brief Therapy Conferences, the Couples Conferences, and the International Congresses on Ericksonian Approaches to Hypnosis and Psychotherapy. A psychologist in private practice in Phoenix, Arizona, he conducts workshops internationally (40 countries). He is president of Zeig, Tucker & Theisen, Inc., publishers in the behavioral sciences.

CHAPTER 1

A PERSONAL INTRODUCTION TO CREATIVITY IN THERAPY

I (Jeffrey) was waiting to appear onstage, ready to deliver a speech at a conference. I was restless with nervous energy, ready to do my thing so I could relax and enjoy some unscheduled time. But I still had a few hours to go.

I looked up from a couch where I’d been reviewing my notes and organizing slides. I didn’t really need to rehearse what I was going to say, but I wanted to be as prepared as I could be because I knew it was going to be a tough audience: They’d be tired after lunch.