This book explores the various applications of systemic understanding in practice. Each chapter covers diverse working contexts and existential life dilemmas, tackling subjects such as: systemic work with individuals, single session family therapy, experiences of adult longing, the therapeutic relationship as a form of love, working systemically with experiences of marginalisation, cultural difference and diversity, the integration of recent neuroscience developments with systemic therapy with couples, the role of forgiveness and the spiritual dimension in therapy.
Throughout, this book promotes hope by presenting new horizons and providing room for reflection on uncertainty, change, opportunities, inter-connections and differences. Theoretical expansion of these existential issues lies both at the heart of systemic work and on the leading edge of research and theory-practice linking, showing how the integration of research with new developments across the broader fields of psychotherapy and counselling can be held within a systemic relational umbrella.
Author(s): Tone Grover (editor), Siv Merete Myra (editor), Ulf Axberg (editor)
Series: Palgrave Texts in Counselling and Psychotherapy
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 201
Acknowledgements
Contents
Notes on Contributors
1: Editors’ Introduction
Reference
2: The Therapeutic Relationship: A Systemic View of Agape
How We Came to Write This Chapter
The Conceptual Belonging of Agape
‘Therapeutic Love’ Within the Psychoanalytic Tradition
Reflections on Agape Within the Systemic Tradition
Power and Difference
Therapy as an Attachment Process
The Meeting of Minds
Supervision and Therapist Self-Care
Conclusion
References
3: Trust, Movement and Collaboration: An Exploration of Trust, Its Significance and Its Forms of Expression in Therapy Sessions
Dear Reader
This Chapter’s Invitation to You
“Show, Don’t Tell” and the Refinement of Knowledge About Oneself
Moving the Perspective
Suicide: Caring
What Creates Trust When Different Considerations Are in Opposition?
Final Remarks
References
4: Questioning Forgiveness
Prelude (Anne)
Introduction
II
III (Bård)
IV
V (Anne)
VI (Bård)
VII
VIII (Anne)
IX
CODA
References
5: Longing, and Longing for Oneself: What Can Therapists Learn from “Soul Activism”?
Introduction
The So-Called Self
Turning the Gaze Away from Oneself
A Departure from Nature?
Healing Through Surrendering
Therapy: A Healing Process for the Therapist?
Love as a Transaction or as a Universal Dimension? Soul Activism
Are We All Therapists?
References
6: Giving Resonance and Room to Spirituality in Systemic Practice
Introduction
Our Journeys
The Spiritual Human
Religious Life
Humanistic Spirituality
Voices of Spirituality from Youths
Longing for Belonging
The Mystery of Life
Spirituality and Systemic Practice
To Be Met in Love
How to Be Familiar with the Unfamiliar?
Making Room for Wondering and Reflections
Embrace the Complexity
The Therapist’s Spiritual Path
Time for Contemplation
Closing Reflections
References
7: The Gift of Literary Fiction to Systemic Training and Practice
My First Reading Experiences
Longing for Home
What Does It Mean to Live Separately and Together?
Literary Fiction: A Tuning Fork for Sensitivity
The Journal, the Novel and Their Different Voices
Bringing Literature Groups into the Study of Family Therapy
Report from One of the Literature Groups
References
8: Till Life Do Us Apart: An Exploration of Crumbs on the Floor and Existential Themes in Couples Therapy
Introduction
Our Own Life Experiences
Cultural Context and Background
The Couple
How to Explore Existential Themes
Theoretical Introduction
Relating to Melody and Margot
Exploring with Melody and Margot: Step by Step
Step 1: Creating a Community of Wonder and Finding an Existential Theme
Step 2: Find Events of Positive Manifestation of Phenomena and Choose One
Step 3: Explore and Find the Essential Characteristics of the Phenomena in the Narrative
Step 4: Explore and Challenge What We Find
Step 5: Strengthening What We Find in Everyday Life and Relationship
Alternative Themes to Explore
Conclusion What Can Existential Exploration Offer Couples?
References
9: Should I Stay, or Should I Go? Rethinking Identity and the Experience of Migration as a Systemic Dialogue in Therapy
The Subtle Layers of the Migration Process
What Happens in the Therapy Room When Both Therapist and Client Are Migrants?
Intergenerational Implications and Cultural Assumptions
Rethinking Identity: Reframing and Self-disclosure
Musings About “Home”
Conflict of Loyalty: Should I Stay, or Should I Go?
Resources and Traps Behind a Common Cultural Origin
Concluding Thoughts
References
10: If We Only Met Once? A Talk with Five Single Session Orientated Therapists
Introduction
Therapeutic Findings
The Bigger Picture
Context and Process
Preparation and the Beginning of a Session
Questionnaires
The First Hello
Creating a Belief for Change
During the Session
Collaboration
Embedded Hope
Creativity in How We Work
Safety and Openness
Towards the End and After a Session
Sharing Reflections
Summaries and the Takeaway
Being the Therapist
When We Need More Than One Session or a Different Therapist
Conclusion
References
11: Coming Full Circle with the Neuroscience: Using New Theory to Re-understand Therapy
Complex Trauma
Dispositional Representations
Integration and Self-Reflexivity
The Advent of Polyvagal Theory
Conclusion
References
12: Epilogue
Index
