Stories we tell our clients: alleviating suffering and understanding classic and innovative therapeutic approaches

Stories can comfort us as we realize our predicament is shared. Stories let us better see our difficulties and conflicts when they are projected onto other characters. They suggest new opportunities for helping others and breaking though our own impasses. Stories We Tell Our Clients contains stories of relevant themes that have been frequently shared by the authors for use in alleviating the suffering and struggles of people - difficulties such as school phobia, parental death, spiritual re-evaluation, life threatening illness, and the losses from old age. Stories We Tell Our Clients portrays traditional and innovative ways of conceptualizing human problems, and the book shares dilemmas about how to choose and apply the most appropriate therapeutic techniques. Individuals who help people seek therapy will also gain fuller understanding of various therapeutic processes and principles, so that they can help people make good choices as well as understand how to provide better support afterwards. The book will be a useful tool for analyzing the client's difficulties through the use of classical theory, pioneering theory, and research findings. It explains the rationale, theoretical, and empirical basis for a story as intervention.