Self-Delight in a Harsh World: The Main Stories of Individual, Marital, and Family Psychotherapy

Language: English

Published by WW Norton & Co, 1992

0393701360 / 9780393701364

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Seller: World of Books Inc, Montgomery, IL, U.S.A.World of Books Inc

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This book is about the kinds of plots that run the lives of patients. Just as natural selection selects the forms of animals, so the selection of human hierarchies chooses us for our willingness to take the forms required by the hierarchies: subservience, bureaucratic delay, and overpowering. The territory delimits the plots, and within each of the three kinds of plots are allowable variations of characters. The book is also about the three kinds of psychotherapy that attempt to deal with these plots: (1) objective psychiatry or psychotherapy, which deals with the outside surface and names the character, as in DSM-I-R; (2) subjective psychiatry or psychotherapy, which deals with the inside surface of plots and often starts with the person's dreams; and (3) narrative psychiatry or psychotherapy, which attempts to deal with both, that is, playing the inner dream onto the outer world. Thirdly, this is a book about the three kinds of therapeutic work that spring people free of old plots into new stories they prefer: individual, marital, and family work. Acknowledging the advantages of subjective, objective, and narrative work, Gustafson meets his readers halfway with their current practice and then shows them what is left out by each tradition and how one might go further to a full explication of stories. When therapists can identify the variations which only keep the patient in the same class of stories, they can spot beacons that will lead the hero out of them--the hero, as Joseph Campbell would say, of a thousand faces. Ultimately, this is a book about delight, about triumphing over harsh hierarchies, about writing one's own realistic and growth-enhancing story.…

Seller Inventory # CIN0393701360G

Title
Self-Delight in a Harsh World: The Main Stories of Individual, Marital, and Family Psychotherapy
Author
James Paul Gustafson
Publisher
WW Norton & Co
Publication year
1992
Condition
Good
Binding
Hardback
Language
English
ISBN 10
0393701360
ISBN 13
9780393701364

World of Books Inc

Montgomery, IL, U.S.A.

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AbeBooks seller since March 23, 2026

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Founded in 2002, World of Books is a leading online destination for buying and selling both preloved and new books, committed to making sustainable reading accessible to all. With a mission to help people read more and waste less, World of Books offers a huge range of affordable, high-quality books — giving both new and preloved titles a second life. The company also operates World of Books – Sell Your Books, an easy-to-use platform that allows customers to trade in unwanted books for cash, helping to keep books in circulation while promoting sustainability. As a Certified B Corp, World of Books is driven by a vision to become the world’s largest and most sustainable dedicated online bookstore. The company measures its success through the positive environmental impact it creates, the value it provides to customers, and its ability to operate profitably while supporting its sustainable mission …

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