Changing The Rules

Reviews / Votes

"Refreshingly refocused on the client's frame of reference, CHANGING THE RULES humanizes the therapeutic encounter.... Duncan and his colleagues transcend the unproductive debate on common factors versus specific factors by integrating the relational power of therapeutic commonalities and the pragmatic specificity of technical eclecticism. Extensive case studies and astute syntheses of the research literature inform this balanced and engaging volume.'' --John C. Norcross, Ph.D.

"The common response to difficulties and impasses in therapy is to blame the patient--for example, as `resistant.' Comforting as this may be, this book suggests how it would be more useful to take out clients' `realities' more seriously, and our own `realities' of theory and technique less seriously with a resulting gain in both focus and flexibility.'' --John H. Weakland, Ch.E., M.F.P.C.

"`No one theory can do it all' should be the motto of this book! CHANGING THE RULES offers an innovative definition of eclecticism and a new way to conceptualize successful as well as failed therapy. The authors draw from their collective clinical experiences and extensive psychotherapy research to operationalize identified `common factors' associated with successful therapy and develop an eclectic, client directed, brief therapy approach. At the heart of their approach is a primary emphasis on the client's subjective experience of therapy, the construction of a common therapist-client theoretical language, and the `common factors context of the therapist-client relationship.' These combine to inform a therapy that is guided by the client and that leads to interventions that are within the client's experience.

"Drawing from their collective clinical experiences, the authors offer a generous variety of individual, couple, and family therapy case vignettes to illustrate pragmatic eclecticism. The authors do not provide a cookbook approach, but rather aim to show therapists how to integrate the client's theory and unique experiences with a diversity of therapist theories and techniques toward a more flexible intellectual framework to guide therapy, and thus most importantly, a more fruitful therapy for all involved." -- Harlene Anderson, Ph.D.