Virginia Satir: the Patterns of Her Magic - Softcover

Andreas, Steve

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0911226389 ISBN 13: 9780911226386

Publisher: Real People Press, 1999

Synopsis

This book provides a detailed analysis of how family therapy pioneer Virginia Satir — one of the greatest therapists of our time — helped people solve problems in relationships.

The first section of the book describes 16 key themes in Satir's work--the techniques and ideas she used to move people from their current situations to their desired outcomes. Satir skillfully reframed perceptions and attitudes, and installed useful presuppositions about positive intentions, alternative choices and learnings. She did this using physical contact, exaggeration, and humor. She directly challenged limiting beliefs and overgeneralizations, and used a wide range of hypnotic language patterns to help clients see events in new ways.

The second section is a richly-annotated verbatim transcript of a 73-minute videotaped session with Linda, a woman who started out with great resentment toward her mother, but who ended with a deep appreciation and loving understanding of her mother's behavior and attitudes.

A follow-up interview with Linda, conducted three years later, shows the permanent impact of the changes Satir had achieved with her. Steve Andreas' insightful commentary reveals the subtlety, precision, and wisdom of Satir's methods, both verbal and nonverbal. Therapists and other professionals who seek positive change in their clients can learn a lot from his book.

About this title

About the Author

Steve Andreas was an American psychotherapist and author specializing in Neuro-linguistic programming.Steve Andreas was the son of Barry Stevens, a writer and gestalt therapist. He founded Real People Press, a publisher of works on psychology and personal change in 1967, in order to publish a book by Carl Rogers and Barry Stevens entitled Person to Person.Andreas got a BA in chemistry from Caltech in 1957, then worked as a chemist at Shell. Afterwards he went to graduate school at Brandeis University under Abraham Maslow and received an MA degree in psychology in 1961. After working as an analytical chemist for the U.S. Bureau of Mines for a year, he got a junior college teaching credential, and taught psychology and social science at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill CA from 1962 to 1970.He was introduced to Gestalt therapy in 1967 by Fritz Perls, and edited his books, Gestalt Therapy Verbatim and In and Out the Garbage Pail. He wrote Awareness, a book of exercises based on Gestalt Therapy in 1971. In 1971 he retired from teaching to focus on running Real People Press and setting up a small experimental community based on the principles of his book.Steve Andreas, with his wife and partner Connirae, has been learning, teaching, and developing patterns in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) since 1977.

Edition details

• Publisher: Real People Press
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0911226389
• ISBN 13: 9780911226386
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 196