Words Were Originally Magic

by Steve De Shazer

While this book evolves naturally from de Shazer's earlier works, here he abandons his characteristically terse style. In explicating how language works in therapy, he ranges widely, citing and critiquing Lacan, Bateson, Ackerman, and Weakland, among others. But the heart of this book can be found in the detailed conversations between client and therapist that show solution-focused therapy in action.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction

285 pages, Hardcover

First published May 17, 1994

Reviews

[Katlu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having studied the latter two in great detail, I was impressed about the surprising connection between the history of psychotherapy, literary theory and the concept of language this book describes in the introduction to justify the solution focussed approach. The examples from real life studies did not bring the same amount of insight, however - most of them are a bit long.

[Shelby M. (Read and Find Out) · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars. I think that those who are interested in brief therapy (particularly solution-focused brief therapy) would enjoy the transcripts provided in this work, which show how de Shazer uses the miracle question and scaling questions, among other techniques. However, I found the transcripts to be extremely grating. Perhaps it's just that my personal approach tends to be more integrative, rather than focusing exclusively on behavioral manifestations. I do think there's something to be gained from this book, but it made it clear to me that de Shazer's approach is very different from my own.

I also think that this book might interest those who work within narrative therapy, or view therapy from a social constructivist lens.

[Nathalie Karasek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Puh, Part 1 was really hard for me and I was thinking to put that book away. I hoped that part 2 will be better but also this was hard at the beginning. Innige end I am now happy that I followed through because it became better with every page and I really enjoyed the last chapters.