Healing With Stories: Your Casebook Collection For Using Therapeutic Metaphors

An invitation to observe and learn the therapeutic art of storytelling

Healing with Stories brings together a stellar collection of some of the world's most prominent practitioners, taking you inside their thinking and processes for working with metaphors. They represent the panorama of metaphor practice in psychotherapy today with considered, humorous, and compassionate case examples that step you through the intricacies for replicating their work in your own. This is a book for family therapists who work with children, adults, and families, as well as for hypnotherapists, cognitive behavioral therapists, narrative therapists, dynamic therapists, solution-focused therapists, and child therapists. In fact, all therapists who wish to communicate their therapeutic messages with the greatest effectiveness will find this book to be an essential and useful clinical tool.

Contributors include:
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Richard Kopp
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Julie H. Linden
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Mikaela J. Hildebrandt
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Lindsay B. Fletcher
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Steven C. Hayes
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Michael D. Yapko
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Valerie E. Lewis
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Gregory Smit
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Joy Nel
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Christine Perry
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Joyce C. Mills
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Rubin Battino
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Carol A Hicks-Lankton
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Wendel A. Ray
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Jana P. Sutton
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Robert McNeilly
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Roxanna Erickson-Klein
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Angela Ebert
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Hasham Al Musawi
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Teresa Garcia-Sanchez
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George W. Burns


Praise for Healing with Stories

"George Burns has done an expert job of compiling a definitive work that demystifies the ever-versatile metaphor. Whether you are a novice or an expert clinician, you will find a treasury of story interventions along with the 'inside scoop' on how each was created and applied to bring success in nineteen unforgettable case chapters. Better yet, you'll be able to create your own healing metaphors thanks to the expert guidance of a wide range of talented storytellers. Don't miss out on this one!"
--Maggie Phillips, PhD, author of Finding the Energy to Heal and coauthor of Healing the Divided Self

"If you want to be inspired, entertained, and enlightened, Healing with Stories is the book to read. George Burns, a master storyteller, has assembled a creative, diverse group of clinicians to share their ideas about how metaphor can be used with a variety of problems and clients. The result is a fascinating array of insights into metaphor's role in the healing process."
--Richard G. Whiteside, MSW, author of Becoming Dragon

George W. Burns is an internationally recognized clinical psychologist, author, and therapist trainer. He is Director of the Milton H. Erickson Institute of Western Australia and The Hypnotherapy Centre of Western Australia. He has lectured around the world and is an adjunct senior lecturer at Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia. He has published several books, including 101 Healing Stories and 101 Healing Stories for Kids and Teens (both from Wiley).

Acknowledgments.
Introduction.
What This Book Offers.
The Contributors.
The Contributions.
The Structure of This Book.
Following Your Gurus: An Opening Story.
Chapter 1 Metaphor and Therapy: Clarifying Some Confusing Concepts.
PART ONE IMPROVING MOOD.
Chapter 2 The Healing Is Complete: Outcome- Oriented Experiential Metaphors in a Case of Major Depression.
Chapter 3 An Empty Sadness: Exploring and Transforming Client- Generated Metaphors.
Chapter 4 And This Little Piggy Stayed Home: Playful Metaphors in Treating Childhood Separation Anxiety.
Chapter 5 Climbing Anxiety Mountain: Generating Metaphors in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.
PART TWO BUILDING POSITIVE RELATIONSHIPS.
Chapter 6 The Case of Carol: Empowering Decision- Making through Metaphor and Hypnosis.
Chapter 7 The Woman Who Wanted to Lie on the Floor: A Social Constructionist Use of Metaphor in a Tale of Two Clients.
Chapter 8 Trekking to Happiness—No Sherpa Required: A Utilization Approach to Transcending an Abusive Relationship.
Chapter 9 And the Two Snakes Fought: Storybook Therapy to Help Deal with the Divorce Monster.
PART THREE CHANGING PATTERNS OF BEHAVIOR.
Chapter 10 Under Fire: Refl ection and Metaphor in Narrative Therapy.
Chapter 11 The Door Is Open, the Bird Can Fly: Merging Therapist and Client Metaphors in Child Therapy.
Chapter 12 Everyone’s Life Is a Story: Guided Metaphor in Changing Global Lifestyle.
Chapter 13 Scared Speechless: Goal- Oriented and Multiple Embedded Metaphors in a Case of Psychogenic Dysphonia.
PART FOUR ENHANCING HEALTH AND WELL- BEING.
Chapter 14 Scareless Ghost, Painless Pasta: Kids’ Own Stories as Therapeutic Metaphor.
Chapter 15 Befriending Your Problems: Metaphor with a Self- Mutilating Young Woman in Transition.
Chapter 16 Night, Night, Sleep Tight, Don’t Let the Sharks Bite: "What’s Missing?" in Metaphors.
Chapter 17 The Metaphor That Sang Its Own Sad Song: Therapeutic Storytelling in Pediatric Hospice Care.
PART FIVE DEVELOPING LIFE SKILLS.
Chapter 18 Reclaiming Poise after Persecution: Client- Based Cultural Stories in Trauma Therapy.
Chapter 19 Of Goths, Fairies, Dragons, and CBT: Joining the Client’s World with an Evidence- Based Metaphor.
Chapter 20 That’s Not a Problem: Metaphor with a Disruptive Client in Ericksonian Group Therapy.
Using Your Loaf: A Concluding Story.
Reference.
Resource Section.
Further Reading Resources.
Contributors’ Favorite Metaphor Books.
Index.