Synopses & Reviews
Psychotherapy has for too long relegated the client to a minor role in the drama of therapeutic healing. Moreover, in today's system of managed care, the client is marginalized further as the field is increasingly medicalized and supervised by those interested only in the bottom line. The result: clients are depersonalized by diagnostic labels that have predetermined limits to care, leaving them with few options for meaningful individual treatment. And this system often forces therapists of all disciplines to forgo new or alternative treatments, leaving them enslaved to follow practices in which they no longer believe. It's time for a radical change.
In The Heroic Client, Barry Duncan and Scott Miller-cofounders of the Institute for the Study of Therapeutic Change-outline the steps to revitalize psychotherapy by harnessing the client's own powers of regeneration and enlisting the client's own perceptions, and thereby making treatment more effective and accountable. This innovative approach advocates for the client's voice in all aspects of therapy and shows how to tailor both relational stances and treatment approaches to each client's personal goals. The authors present a simple, valid, and reliable way of legitimizing therapy to third-party payers using client feedback about the process and outcome of therapy.
Based on extensive clinical research and field-tested experience, The Heroic Client will challenge therapists to rethink the process of therapy, recast clients in their rightful roles as heroes and heroines in their own therapy, and help therapists establish an approach beyond the limits of the medical model. Timely, highly readable, and thought-provoking, The Heroic Client will change the way therapists do therapy.
[head]
The book that will lead psychotherapy out of the Stone Age and into the age of The Heroic Client
In this controversial book, psychologists Barry Duncan and Scott Miller, cofounders of the Institute for the Study of Therapeutic Change, challenge the traditional focus on diagnosis, "silver bullet" techniques, and magic pills, exposing them as empirically bankrupt practices that only diminish the role of clients and hasten therapy's extinction. Instead, they advocate for the long-ignored but most crucial factor in therapeutic success-the innate resources of the client. Based on extensive clinical research and case studies, The Heroic Client not only shows how to harness the client's powers of regeneration to make therapy effective, but also how to enlist
the client as a partner to make therapy accountable. The Heroic Client inspires therapists to boldly rewrite the drama of therapy, recast clients in their rightful role as heroes and heroines of the therapeutic stage, and legitimize their services to third-party payers without the compromises of the medical model.
"The Heroic Client calls forth a therapeutic union between therapist compassion and accountability with client wisdom. This book inspires us to re-remember why we became therapists in the first place."
—Stephen Madigan, director of training, Toronto Narrative Therapy Project, and managing editor, www.planet-therapy.com
"Warning: If you're addicted to long letters of appreciation touting your clinical prowess, this book will be hazardous to your mental health. Duncan and Miller will show you how to harness your clients' expertise and make therapy a more collaborative, outcome-oriented experience. But fasten your seatbelts, you're in for a humbling ride!"
—Michele Weiner-Davis, author, Divorce Busting
Review
“… Great. Great. Great. Buy. Buy. Buy…one of the few works on therapy which I would attempt to salvage if shipwrecked on a desert island….” (Ipnosis, No.16, Winter 2004)
Review
"The Heroic Client calls forth a therapeutic union between therapist compassion and accountability with client wisdom. This book inspires us to re-remember why we became therapists in the first place." (Stephen Madigan, director of training, Toronto Narrative Therapy Project, and managing editor, www.planet-therapy.com)
"Warning: If you're addicted to long letters of appreciation touting your clinical prowess, this book will be hazardous to your mental health. Duncan and Miller will show you how to harness your clients' expertise and make therapy a more collaborative, outcome-oriented experience. But fasten your seatbelts, you're in for a humbling ride!" (Michele Weiner-Davis, author, Divorce Busting)
"Few authors have captured and articulated the challenges facing practicing clinicians as well as Duncan and Miller. This is must reading for graduate students and novice therapists who are entering the field, thought provoking and stimulating reading for seasoned professionals." (Michael J. Lambert, Brigham Young University)
"...an inspiring and timely book..." (The New Therapist, October 2000)
Synopsis
Recasting the client as star of his or her own therapeutic drama in this innovative, highly controversial approach to psychological treatment -- based on the latest research into what really works.
Synopsis
The Thoroughly Revised Edition of the Book That Will Lead Psychotherapy Out of the Stone Age and Into the Age of The Heroic Client
This revised edition of The Heroic Client presents the latest empirical findings about what works in therapyfeaturing the revolutionary increase in effectiveness achieved via client-based outcome feedback. Translating this research into pragmatic steps to enhance the benefit of any model of therapy, The Heroic Client calls for nothing less than a paradigm shifta shift that not only improves outcome one client at a time but also assigns those we serve key roles in determining the way therapy is both delivered and funded.
"The Heroic Client calls into question the purity of therapy models . . . a timely and inspiring volumeitself, a heroic provocation to the mental health profession."
Sheila McNamee, professor of communication, University of New Hampshire; author, Relational Responsibility, and editor, Therapy as Social Construction
"Warning: If youre addicted to long letters of appreciation touting your clinical prowess, this book will be hazardous to your mental health. It will show you how to harness your clients expertise and make therapy a more collaborative, outcome-oriented experience."
Michele Weiner-Davis, author, Divorce Busting
"The Heroic Client inspires us to re-remember why we became therapists in the first place."
Stephen Madigan, director of training, Toronto Narrative Therapy Project, and managing editor, www.planet-therapy.com
"This is must reading for graduate students and novice therapists who are entering the field, and thought-provoking and stimulating reading for seasoned professionals."
Michael J. Lambert, professor of psychology, Brigham Young University, and coauthor of the Outcome Questionnaire and Assessing Outcome in Clinical Practice
Synopsis
In this controversial book, psychologists Barry Duncan and Scott Miller, cofounders of the Institute for the Study of Therapeutic Change, challenge the traditional focus on diagnosis, "silver bullet" techniques, and magic pills, exposing them as empirically bankrupt practices that only diminish the role of clients and hasten therapy's extinction. Instead, they advocate for the long-ignored but most crucial factor in therapeutic success-the innate resources of the client. Based on extensive clinical research and case studies, The Heroic Client not only shows how to harness the client's powers of regeneration to make therapy effective, but also how to enlist the client as a partner to make therapy accountable. The Heroic Client inspires therapists to boldly rewrite the drama of therapy, recast clients in their rightful role as heroes and heroines of the therapeutic stage, and legitimize their services to third-party payers without the compromises of the medical model.
About the Author
BARRY L. DUNCAN is associate professor, School of Social and Systemic Studies, Nova Southeastern University, and the cofounder and codirector of the Institute for the Study of Therapeutic Change. SCOTT D. MILLER is cofounder and codirector of the Institute for the Study of Therapeutic Change, in Chicago, Illinois. Duncan and Miller, with Mark Hubble, are the coauthors of the bestselling Handbook of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy.
Table of Contents
Foreword to the Revised Edition (Bruce E. Wampold).
Foreword to the First Edition (Larry E. Beutler).
Preface.
1. Therapy at the Crossroads.
2. The Myth of the Medical Model.
3. Becoming Client Directed.
4. Becoming Outcome Informed with Lynn Johnson, Jeb Brown, and Morten Anker.
5 The Client’s Theory of Change with Susanne Coleman, Lisa Kelledy, and Steven Kopp.
6 The Myth of the Magic Pill with Grace Jackson, Roger P. Greenberg, and Karen Kinchin.
7 Planet Mental Health.
Epilogue: A Tale of Two Therapies.
Appendixes.
I. A First-Person Account of Mental Health Services (Ronald Bassman).
II. Consumer/Survivor/Ex-Patient Resource Information (Ronald Bassman).
III. Five Questions About Psychotherapy.
IV. Outcome Rating Scale and Session Rating Scale; Experimental Versions for Children.
References.
About the Authors.
Name Index.
Subject Index.