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From Conflict to Resolution:Skills and Strategies for Individuals, Couples, and Family Therapy
"Heitler has established herself as a leader in what is evolving as an extraordinary, valuable integration of systems perspectives, cognitive and behavioral methodologies, and traditional views of personality and therapy."-- Psychotherapy in Private Practice
- GenresCommunicationSelf Help
368 pages, Paperback
First published February 16, 1990
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 13, 2009
Another book I read for college. The author is very well versed in her field, and does a spectacular job of explaining the many issues people face which cause conflict in their daily lives. The author does tend to bog down the overall premise of the book in technical explinations and reasons people experience conflict, but as long as you can work your way past this (I recommend not paying as much attention to these paragraphs early on), the reader will have a better understanding of conlfict, and how best to approach it and work through it in their lives. While not the easiest book to get through, its very informative.
April 24, 2010
This dense book was packed with useful information, both theoretical and practical. It was a long, hard book to read and probably won't be an easy review to write. Probably the only people who'd actually be interested in this review -- and this book -- are people who are really dying to learn everything they possibly can about working as a therapist, particularly with couples. For those die-hard individuals out there, though, this book has a great deal to offer.
After introducing us to some aspects of negotiation theory (e.g., prisoner's dilemma) as a means of establishing the central themes of conflict and resolution, Susan Heitler defines several relevant terms. According to Heitler, the health of an individual, couple, or group can be seen as a function of its ability to negotiate conflicts. Conflicts may be intrapsychic (conflicting thoughts and/or feelings within the person), interpersonal (between two or more people), or between a person and their external situation. In performing a conflict-based assessment, Heitler recommends that clinicians assess their clients in terms of symptoms (feelings or behaviors that suggest disturbance of normal functioning; e.g., excessive crying, rage outbursts, job failure, etc.), process (how conflicts are dealt with), and content (what the conflicts are about).
Healthy people will deal with conflicts through problem-solving -- talking, listening, gathering information, thinking, generating options, and ultimately resolving. Less healthy people, in contrast, will resort to one or more of four responses to conflict: fight (insist, blame, criticize, etc.), submit (give in, give up, yield just to preserve the peace), flee (stonewall, leave physically or emotionally, change the subject, etc.), or freeze (wait, do nothing). Naturally, choosing one or more of the less healthy options can lead to symptoms like inner turmoil, procrastination, addiction, marital tension, arguments, disengaged families, etc. More specifically, Heitler conceptualizes depression as a submissive response to a dominant force (either another person, a force within the psyche, or a difficult situation), anxiety as a freezing response to an anticipated conflict, anger as a fighting or coercive response, and addiction as a fleeing response.
After a great deal of detail on the above, Heitler moves on to the more practical section of the book. She walks you through the initial presentation of a case, and organizing the data into symptoms, content, and process. She discusses decision-making with regard to who should be seen -- the couple? The individuals? The family? The child? When do you start by treating the symptoms, and how do you do that? When, and how, do you move into the process and/or content? Finally, Heitler talks about ways to help couples resolve their conflicts and improve their communication skills.
I liked the fact that this book was transtheoretical and relevant to clinicians of any orientation. I also felt that there was a great deal of useful information -- it's a book that demands multiple readings. Unfortunately, because it was so dense it was difficult to take everything in which is why I took off a star. With that said, I think this book is an excellent addition to a therapist's library.
After introducing us to some aspects of negotiation theory (e.g., prisoner's dilemma) as a means of establishing the central themes of conflict and resolution, Susan Heitler defines several relevant terms. According to Heitler, the health of an individual, couple, or group can be seen as a function of its ability to negotiate conflicts. Conflicts may be intrapsychic (conflicting thoughts and/or feelings within the person), interpersonal (between two or more people), or between a person and their external situation. In performing a conflict-based assessment, Heitler recommends that clinicians assess their clients in terms of symptoms (feelings or behaviors that suggest disturbance of normal functioning; e.g., excessive crying, rage outbursts, job failure, etc.), process (how conflicts are dealt with), and content (what the conflicts are about).
Healthy people will deal with conflicts through problem-solving -- talking, listening, gathering information, thinking, generating options, and ultimately resolving. Less healthy people, in contrast, will resort to one or more of four responses to conflict: fight (insist, blame, criticize, etc.), submit (give in, give up, yield just to preserve the peace), flee (stonewall, leave physically or emotionally, change the subject, etc.), or freeze (wait, do nothing). Naturally, choosing one or more of the less healthy options can lead to symptoms like inner turmoil, procrastination, addiction, marital tension, arguments, disengaged families, etc. More specifically, Heitler conceptualizes depression as a submissive response to a dominant force (either another person, a force within the psyche, or a difficult situation), anxiety as a freezing response to an anticipated conflict, anger as a fighting or coercive response, and addiction as a fleeing response.
After a great deal of detail on the above, Heitler moves on to the more practical section of the book. She walks you through the initial presentation of a case, and organizing the data into symptoms, content, and process. She discusses decision-making with regard to who should be seen -- the couple? The individuals? The family? The child? When do you start by treating the symptoms, and how do you do that? When, and how, do you move into the process and/or content? Finally, Heitler talks about ways to help couples resolve their conflicts and improve their communication skills.
I liked the fact that this book was transtheoretical and relevant to clinicians of any orientation. I also felt that there was a great deal of useful information -- it's a book that demands multiple readings. Unfortunately, because it was so dense it was difficult to take everything in which is why I took off a star. With that said, I think this book is an excellent addition to a therapist's library.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews