| is
better than all the rest. These
therapists are no longer searching for
the one best best way to do
therapy. Instead, they are using
their personal education, training and
experience to tailor their therapy to
the client and the moment in the
evolving therapy process.
These are the
therapists who are postmodern,
deconstructing the very idea of a
one-size-fits all school of
therapy. They are
postmodern whether they know it or
not, just as one might be a dreamer,
or a connoisseur without knowing
it. These therapists -- no
I will speak of "we postmodern
therapists" -- are making
micro-judgments continuously in the
course of our work. And it is
here in the micro-judgments that we
most feel our creative power to
help. These micro-judgments
could never be scripted for
everyone. Yes, of course, we
stay within the ethical dictates of
our profession. In fact, we
often feel we must step outside a
particular school in order to honor
the ethical guidelines of our
profession. The best
therapeutic moves are invented outside
the box and every postmodern therapist
invents in this way throughout the
therapy.
When we were
each just another "modern
therapist" we truly believed
there was just one best model of
therapy. Then, little by little
we shifted to a nostalgic postmodern
phase, pretending to be modern,
ignoring our creativity as a kind of
flaw. Then, finally, some of us,
have abandoned our nostalgia. We
are like figure skaters who learned
the exercise compulsories and hated
the freedom of free skating
contests. Now, we consider the
compulsories just a necessary training
exercise. And the therapy
schools? They are just necessary
training exercises, Over time, we can
all work more therapeutically outside
the boundaries of a particular school
This book is
partly my story, and it is partly the
story of some of my postmodern
friends. It may also be your
story. It gives the cultural
history of our postmodernism, a little
introductory explanation of what the
term means, and a history of the
discipline of "professional
therapy" as it relates to some of
our emerging postmodernism.
If this sounds
like the book for you -- then I
believe it is time for all of us to
tell our story, to recognize our
historical context and
significance, and to see what
wonderful progress we have been
making while imagining that the
therapy discipline was more or less
standing still.
How could we
ever have imagined that?
| ..Lois Shawver, Ph.D. |
|
| To check see options for
purchasing this book, click
here:
Nostalgic
Postmodernism
or
call: 1-800-431-1579
|
|
