Giant Steps

by Barry Neil Kaufman

"You'll Laugh, You'll Cry, But You'll Walk Away Cheering."Dr. Wayne W. DyerBarry Neil Kaufman won national acclaim with Son-Rise and To Love is to Be Happy With. Now, he takes readers on an intimate journey through the challenges facing the young people with whom he has worked.Each Drama is Unique, All are-- a young girl facing the decision to have an abortion or a baby...-- a sensitive adolescent learning to deal with a parent's death...-- the pilgrimage of parents whose child is locked behind an emotional barrier...-- the frustration of a bright child with an undiagnosed learning disability...-- the torment of a teenage girl troubled by her own blossoming sexuality...Here are the stories of young people at critical turning points in their lives. Here also is the story of the man who neither judges them nor censures them, but simply accepts them and, ultimately, helps them to make their own choices.

Genres: Nonfiction

352 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

Reviews

[Yakochica]

This book and "To love is to be happy with" are very similar in nature since they both contain dialogue sessions between the author and his "patients." However, I enjoyed this one slightly more since the dialogue sessions read more like stories than transcripts. As with all his books Bears (preferred nickname of Barry Kaufman) challenges belief systems and helps people look at things in a different light.
I love the dialogue style of therapy and think this book does an excellent job of showing how this form of therapy works.
This book is deffinitley not a light read but I found it oddly entertaining.

[Suzannah]

This is an amazing book. If you're at all interested various therapy forms, I highly suggest this. These are transcripts (used with permission of patients) of the author (who goes by Bears) and a few of his patients. He uses a method of simply asking "then what" to get his patients to the heart of the matter at hand. He helped a young mother stop physically abusing her son; a teen girl decide whether or not to abort her baby; and many other families deal with drama and trauma.

[Margy Levine Young]

The Option Institute assigned us some books to read before our Option Weekend in August 2003, and this is one. Not beautifully written, but it’s given me an idea of how the Option Process – guided dialogs – works.

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer]

I didn't know much about autism until I read this book. Very interesting and inspiring.

[Anna]

Excellent

[Christine]

I don't know something a out this book really resonate with me!