Change: Principles of Problem Formation and Problem Resolution

by Paul Watzlawick, John H. Weakland, Richard Fisch, Milton H. Erickson M.D., Bill O'Hanlon

Overview

Why some problems persist while others are resolved.

This classic book, available in paperback for the very first time, explores why some people can successfully change their lives and others cannot. Here famed psychologist Paul Watzlawick presents what is still often perceived as a radical idea: that the solutions to our problems are inherently embedded in the problems themselves.

Tackling the age-old questions surrounding persistence and change, the book asks why problems arise and are perpetuated in some instances but easily resolved in others. Incorporating ideas about human communication, marital and family therapy, the therapeutic effects of paradoxes and of action-oriented techniques of problem resolution, Change draws much from the field of psychotherapy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393707069
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	04/25/2011
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Paul Watzlawick was an associate at the Mental Research Institute, Palo Alto, and clinical professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, Stanford University Medical Center. An internationally known psychologist, Watzlawick died in 2007.

John H. Weakland died in 1995.

Richard Fisch is a psychiatrist with a private practice in Palo Alto, California.

Bill O’Hanlon, is a founder of Possibility and Inclusive Therapies and is the author or coauthor of more than thirty books, including Out of the Blue, Becoming A Published Therapist, and Quick Steps to Resolving Trauma. He is a Diplomate, Board Member, Fellow and Master Therapist in the American Psychotherapy Association and was awarded the "Outstanding Mental Health Educator of the Year" in 2001 by the New England Educational Institute. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Visit his website for more information: BillOHanlon.com.

Table of Contents

Foreword to the paperback edition Bill O'Hanlon ix

Foreword Milton H. Erickson xiii

Preface xv

Part 1 Persistence and Change

Chapter 1 The Theoretical Perspective 3

Chapter 2 The Practical Perspective 14

Part 2 Problem Formation

Chapter 3 "More of the Same" or, When the Solution Becomes the Problem 31

Chapter 4 The Terrible Simplifications 40

Chapter 5 The Utopia Syndrome 47

Chapter 6 Paradoxes 61

Part 3 Problem Resolution

Chapter 7 Second-Order Change 75

Chapter 8 The Gentle Art of Reframing 90

Chapter 9 The Practice of Change 108

Chapter 10 Exemplifications 115

Chapter 11 The Wider Horizon 155

References 159

Index 167

Editorial Reviews

"A top pick for any psychology library!"

Midwest Book Review