This book will make the brilliant work of Mara Selvini Palazzoli and her gifted team more widely known in this country. The internal consistency of their approach–combining a systemic theory of family with a systemic theory of change–results in a therapy that is elegant, powerful, and economic. Using their knowledge of families as natural, rule-governed systems, the team proposes a hypothesis to explain the function of a problem in the family. They then base an intervention–paradoxical or otherwise–upon this hypothesis. The intervention serves to validate (or disprove) the hypothesis and to suggest further moves. The moves themselves are astoundingly compact. Palazzoli and her team are masters of the art of co-opting the resistance. They use the forces deployed by the family against change to produce change. It is as if one were to use the rules of Alice's Looking-Glass Kingdom to break the looking-glass. After the solemnity which surrounds the practice of the therapeutic art in this country, it is refreshing to find a practice which relies upon drama, wit, surprise, and (of course!) paradox. This is a book which should not only be acted upon but read.

• Chapter 1 IntroductionChapter 2 Working MethodChapter 3 The Couple and the Family in Schizophrenic TransactionChapter 4 The Identified PatientChapter 5 Therapeutic Interventions: A Learning Process Through Trial and ErrorChapter 6 The Tyranny of Linguistic ConditioningChapter 7 Positive ConnotationChapter 8 The Prescription in the First SessionChapter 9 Family RitualsChapter 10 From Sibling Rivalry to Sibling SacrificeChapter 11 The Therapists Take Upon Themselves the Dilemma of the Relationship Between Parents and ChildChapter 12 Therapists Accept Without Objection a Questionable ImprovementChapter 13 How to Cope With the Absent Member ManeuverChapter 14 Getting Around the DisconfirmationChapter 15 The Problem of Secret CoalitionsChapter 16 The Therapists Declare Their Impotence Without Blaming AnyoneChapter 17 The Therapists Prescribe to Themselves the Ultimate ParadoxChapter 18 The Therapists Give Up the Parental Role, Paradoxically Prescribing It to the Members of The Last Generation

This book will make the brilliant work of Mara Selvini Palazzoli and her gifted team more widely known in this country. The internal consistency of their approach–combining a systemic theory of family with a systemic theory of change–results in a therapy that is elegant, powerful, and economic. Using their knowledge of families as natural, rule-governed systems, the team proposes a hypothesis to explain the function of a problem in the family. They then base an intervention–paradoxical or otherwise–upon this hypothesis. The intervention serves to validate (or disprove) the hypothesis and to suggest further moves. The moves themselves are astoundingly compact. Palazzoli and her team are masters of the art of co-opting the resistance. They use the forces deployed by the family against change to produce change. It is as if one were to use the rules of Alice's Looking-Glass Kingdom to break the looking-glass. After the solemnity which surrounds the practice of the therapeutic art in this country, it is refreshing to find a practice which relies upon drama, wit, surprise, and (of course!) paradox. This is a book which should not only be acted upon but read.

• Chapter 1 IntroductionChapter 2 Working MethodChapter 3 The Couple and the Family in Schizophrenic TransactionChapter 4 The Identified PatientChapter 5 Therapeutic Interventions: A Learning Process Through Trial and ErrorChapter 6 The Tyranny of Linguistic ConditioningChapter 7 Positive ConnotationChapter 8 The Prescription in the First SessionChapter 9 Family RitualsChapter 10 From Sibling Rivalry to Sibling SacrificeChapter 11 The Therapists Take Upon Themselves the Dilemma of the Relationship Between Parents and ChildChapter 12 Therapists Accept Without Objection a Questionable ImprovementChapter 13 How to Cope With the Absent Member ManeuverChapter 14 Getting Around the DisconfirmationChapter 15 The Problem of Secret CoalitionsChapter 16 The Therapists Declare Their Impotence Without Blaming AnyoneChapter 17 The Therapists Prescribe to Themselves the Ultimate ParadoxChapter 18 The Therapists Give Up the Parental Role, Paradoxically Prescribing It to the Members of The Last Generation