Brief Therapy

Myths, Methods, and Metaphors

by Jeffrey K. Zeig, Ph.D. and Stephen G. Gilligan, Ph.D.

A tapestry of rich and varied perspectives drawn from a remarkable event. The Brief Therapy Congress, sponsored by the Milton H. Erickson Foundation, brought togehter over 2200 therapists and an impressive faculty that included J. Barber, J. Bergman, S. Budman, G. Cecchin, N. Cummings, S. de Shazer, A. Ellis, M. Goulding, J. Gustafson, J. Haley, C. Lankton, S. Lankton, A. Lazarus, C. Madanes, W. O'Hanlon, P. Papp, E. Polster, E. Rossi, P. Sifneos, H. Strupp, P. Watzlawick, J. Weakland, M. Yapko, and many more.

During the course of this meeting, the cutting edge of virtually every dimension of current thinking in this burgeoning area of therapy was exposed.

Organized around central issues and major themes in contemporary brief therapy, the book is divided into nine parts - Keynote Addresses, Overviews, Familt Therapy, The Temporal Factor in Brief Therapy, Techniques of Brief Therapy, Models of Brief Therapy, Distinguishing Features of Brief Therapy, Special Concerns, and Mind-Body Healing. The 34 chapters embrace a vast array of veiwpoints and methods to demonstrate thethe different approaches that the contributors have found effective in their work.

Taken as a whole, this volume constitutes a state-of-the-art report on brief therapy. The powerful voices of its authors are at once diverse, insightful, and provocative. Beginning and experienced therapist alike will find here a resource of incomparable value as they continue to forge their own styles of doing brief therapy.