Transformational Chairwork: Using Psychotherapeutic Dialogues in Clinical Practice

Transformational Chairwork is a practical handbook for using psychotherapeutic dialogues in clinical practice, based on the work of Dr. Jacob Moreno and Dr. Fritz Perls. It offers a model that is integrative and trans-theoretical, with external and internal dialogues used to help patients work through grief and loss, heal from interpersonal abuse and trauma, manage difficult relationships, and develop and strengthen their assertive voice. It also explores how Chairwork dialogues can be a powerful intervention when working with addictions, social oppression, medical issues, and psychosis.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 216 pages
Publication date: 27 July 2018
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Transformational Chairwork: Using Psychotherapeutic Dialogues in Clinical Practice is a comprehensive exploration of the art and science of Chairwork, a therapeutic approach that has been embraced and re-envisioned by therapists from various perspectives. Originally developed by Dr. Jacob Moreno in the 1950s and further developed by Dr. Fritz Perls in the 1960s, Chairwork has become a valuable tool for addressing a wide range of clinical problems. The book provides clinicians with essential dialogue strategies and empowers them to create therapeutic encounters and re-enactments. Chairwork interventions can be broadly organized along the lines of external and internal dialogues. External dialogues can be used to help patients work through grief and loss, heal from interpersonal abuse and trauma, manage difficult relationships, and develop and strengthen their assertive voice. Internal dialogues, on the other hand, focus on resolving inner conflicts, combating the negative impact of the inner critic and the experience of self-hatred, working with dreams and nightmares, and expanding the self through polarity work. Using both internal and external strategies, this book explores how Chairwork dialogues can be a powerful intervention when working with addictions, social oppression, medical issues, and psychosis. It does so through the use of compelling clinical examples and scripts that can be read, studied, and enacted. Chairwork's central emphasis is helping patients express each of their voices as distinctly and as forcefully as possible. The book concludes with a discussion of the challenges and opportunities that Chairwork presents for therapists and a call for further research and development in this area.

Weight: 340g
Dimension: 153 x 228 x 20 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781442248007