Rewriting Family Scripts: Improvisation and Systems Change (The Guilford Family Therapy) - Softcover

Byng-Hall, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1572300663 ISBN 13: 9781572300668

Publisher: Guilford Press, 1996

Synopsis

Families can develop self-destructive routines so predictable that members seem to be following a script; each one coming in on cue as the plot unfolds. Such scripts can be altered, however, when families in therapy learn how to improvise new patterns of relating. Rewriting Family Scripts presents an innovative approach to doing just that; incorporating into family therapy elements of script theory and recent findings in attachment research, including those related to narrative.
Developing a new systematic attachment concept, "the secure family base", from which individual members can feel safe enough to explore and improvise new scripts, author John Byng-Hall shows how families can change insecure relationship patterns both during and after therapy.
Clearly written, jargon-free, and illustrated with detailed clinical case material, this book presents a comprehensive conceptual framework that illuminates the central issues of family therapy practice. This book is aimed at family and marital therapists and other therapists working with individuals, families or groups, who are interested in understanding and improving family dynamics. It also serves as a text in courses on family and marital therapy and courses on attachment theory.

About this title

Review

"I strongly recommend this book for advanced clinicians in the field of family therapy. It is practical and readable yet provides a comprehensive theoretical perspective that is well grounded in the literature and thoroughly explained."-- (01/17/1998)

"Extraordinary....This book should take its place next to Minuchin's Families and Family Therapy on the shelves of all psychiatrists and others who work with children, adolescents, and their families. It is a classic. "-- (01/17/1998)

"This long-awaited book is the culmination of 25 years of practice by one of Great Britain's foremost family therapy practitioners and trainers....It is an eminently practical and accessible book and provides us with a powerful tool with which to explore the complex links among individual, interaction, and system."-- (01/17/1998)

"Rewriting Family Scripts, extremely human and at times very funny, comes highly recommended."--Youth Today (01/17/1998)

About the Author

John Byng-Hall is a Consultant Child and Family Psychiatrist at the Tavistock Clinic. He has published widely on topics such as family myths, legends, and scripts; attachments within the family; adolescence; and the impact of chronic illness within the family. He has also presented his ideas at international conferences. He was trained at Cambridge University, University College Hospital London, the Maudsley and Bethlem Royal Hospitals, and at the Tavistock Clinic. He is a past Chair of the Institute of Family Therapy, London.

Edition details

• Publisher: Guilford Press
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 1572300663
• ISBN 13: 9781572300668
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288