Status Dynamics
Creating New Paths to Therapeutic Change
by
Raymond M. Bergner, Ph.D.
Fresh, original and highly practical, Status Dynamics was written with one end in mind: to make powerful and effective paths to therapeutic change available to therapists and their clients.
Status Dynamics extends, rather than replaces, a therapist’s preferred approach. Written by a therapist for therapists, it is based on over 30 years of therapy experience and richly illustrated with case examples. It covers both principles and practice, showing how to assign empowering statuses – places of power – to clients and how to help clients:
- Reconstruct their worlds and their places in them
- Change their self-concept ( notoriously resistant to change)
- Co-create linchpin formulations that help them make broad life changes
The books also covers in depth:
- Policy guidelines for effective status dynamic therapy
- Images and stories that communicate places of power – including a famous “Peanuts” cartoon involving Charlie Brown and the red-haired girl
- Dealing with disqualification by clients and family members
As Dr. Bergner says in his Conclusion: “We will assign statuses to our clients. There is no way not to do so. We will regard them as acceptable or unacceptable, powerful or powerless, rational or irrational, resource-possessing or bankrupt, bright or dull, loving or unloving, and so forth. And we will treat them accordingly. Our clients, more often than not, will be strongly affected by our status assignments. They will benefit from them or suffer from them. Be aware of status dynamics and use it consciously and deliberately to benefit your clients.”
