Counseling 580   

Use of Self in Therapy

Spring 1998

Professor:               Daniel J. Wiener, Ph.D.
Office Location:     Henry Barnard Hall, Room 215 (within Room 227).
Office Hours:     Tue, 2:30-4:00 pm; Wed, 3:30-5:30 pm; Thur, 2:30-4:00 pm.
Phone:          (860) 832-2121

Class Hours:      Tuesdays, 6:50 - 9:30pm
Class location:      Henry Barnard Hall, Room 322

PURPOSE: This course involves MFT students in learning to develop themselves as effective healing and change agents for both their clients and themselves. The competent practice of MFT requires a synthesis of knowledge, judgment, and presence which cannot be imparted by conceptual learning alone. Applying systems thinking to families evokes subjective experience and meanings that are of an intensely emotional character. This intensity is further heightened by the resonance of family dynamics observed in others to one's own family patterns and issues, particularly those which
remain problematic and unresolved. The distortions and biases resulting from such resonance may lead the student to adopt either an overdistanced stance, in which family process in self as well as others is objectified and stripped of feeling, or an underdistanced stance, in which the student becomes emotionally reactive to, and part of, the family emotional process.

In promoting a use-of-self perspective to the study of family systems thinking and clinical practice it is important that students be engaged in looking at their perceptions and beliefs in comparison with the instructor's and those of their classmates. It is equally important that they attempt to apply the concepts acquired through reading and lectures to observations of self and others.

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FORMAT: The course will be run as an interactive seminar. Class time will be used for experiential exercises and student presentations (see below), with ample time for discussion. Students will keep an ongoing journal of their reactions to the learning experiences of the course. In addition to the required texts there will be a number of handout readings.

STUDENT PRESENTATIONS:
Each student shall, during the semester, be responsible for 30 minutes of in-class presentation on some one or more aspect of the themes and topics listed below. Students may co-present in groups of up to three, with the presentation time of 60 minutes for two-student presentations and 90 minutes for a group of three. Student projects are intended as learning experiences for the class as a whole. There are no format requirements for student presentations. Student presentations are scheduled for the semester beginning in the fifth week (February 24th); each individual student, pair, or group is responsible for arranging a replacement presentation with other students should they be unable, for any reason, to present on their scheduled day.

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TOPICS: There are no modular "units of study" to be learned in any fixed sequence in this course. Rather, we shall be visiting and revisiting aspects of the following themes and topics throughout the course:

• Use-of-self compared across psychotherapies;
• Social Constructionism and its implications for therapy;
• The place of play, pretense, performance, and absurdity in therapy;
• Therapy as both Science (technique) and as Art (Creativity and spontaneity);
• Pattern replication in human systems: isomorphism, resonance, countertransference, and the mutual influence of therapists and clients on each other;
• Therapy as adventure and growth for both clients and therapists;
• Re-learning to use our faculties;
• Mastering context;
• The place of values and morality in psychotherapy.
• Professionalism as both asset and constraint in therapy.

JOURNAL AND COURSE PAPER: Each student is to keep a journal on class activities, reactions to readings, clinical experiences, and any other relevant happenings. Your journal entries are an important part of the learning process and should reflect your ongoing thoughts, observations, and reactions throughout the course. The journal serves as the raw material out of which you are to fashion your course paper.

The topic of the course paper is: "What I have learned about my use of self as a therapist-in-training." It is an organized, personal, written account of your growth in self-understanding during the course. With prior consent of the instructor, your work on this topic may be presented in a format other than a paper.

Papers and Journals, together, are due May 5th

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REQUIRED WORK AND GRADING:

30% - Class Participation - Your grade is based on both quality and frequency; come prepared each week to discuss current assignments. The instructor welcomes respectful disputation and the posing of intellectually challenging questions! Regular attendance is required.

20% - Class Presentation - Graded on how effective a learning experience the presentation was for the class. When students co-present, all earn the same grade.

30% - Course Paper - Clearly state your point of view at or near the beginning of the paper and organize the writing to support your conclusions.

20% - Journal - Your journal entries are personal and are themselves not graded. The instructor will read the journal, noting whether you made a minimum entry per week, and will provide an evaluative comment.

Grading

A = outstanding work
B = acceptable work
C = unacceptable work

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REQUIRED TEXTS:

Waters, D.B. & Lawrence, E. (1993). Courage, competence, and change in psychotherapy. New York: Norton.

Baldwin, M. & Satir, S. (1987). The use of self in therapy. New York: Haworth.

RECOMMENDED READINGS (ANNOTATED)
There are a multitude of books and articles written by therapists on their personal insights about life and their work, some very good, indeed. The books listed below are particularly helpful and interesting.

Duhl, B.S. (1983). From the inside out and other metaphors: Creative and integrative approaches to training in systems thinking. New York: Brunner Mazel.
Ways of drawing and developing the map of human systems thinking in context over time, in the mind, and in the behaviors of each trainee.

B. Gerson (ed.), (1996). The therapist as a person: Life crises, life choices, life experiences, and their effects on treatment. Hillsdale, NJ: Analytic Press.
Autobiographical stories of 17 analysts coping with life while continuing their clinical practices.

Keeney, B.P. (1991). Improvisational Therapy. New York: Guilford.
A coherent sequence of strategies for understanding and acquiring the tools of a custom-tailored therapeutic style.

Nachmanovitch, S. (1990). Free play. Los Angeles: Tarcher/Perigree.
Interrelated insights and observations on improvisation, creativity and life.

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