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Although most people physically leave home by their early 20s, emotional separation from ones family is a more difficult process that can continue for a lifetime. Now available in paper for the first time, this acclaimed book addresses the struggle of adults to establish autonomy without sacrificing family connections. Donald S. Williamson presents personal authority therapy, an approach designed to simultaneously foster individual development and family-of-origin intimacy. Therapists are taken step by step through conducting individual, couple, and small group sessions that culminate in several sessions with each client and his or her parents. Writing with sensitivity and humor, the author demonstrates effective ways to help adult children construct new personal and family narratives, resolve intergenerational intimidation, and enjoy healthier, more equal relationships with parents and significant others.
List of contents
I. Personal Authority Theory
1. Personal Authority in the Family System: An Overview
2. Background Theoretical Assumptions
3. Personal Authority: The Construct in Theoretical Context
II. Personal Authority Method: The Play's the Thing
4. Setting the Scene: Playful Interventions as a Method of Therapy
5. Auditioning and Casting: Background Preparations for the Conversations with Parents
6. Black Out Sketches: The Group at Play
7. The Rehearsal: Preparing the Client for Political Renegotiations with Parents
8. Scheduling the Performance and Contract Negotiating with the Players
9. Writing the Script: The In-Office Agenda for the Primary Triangle/m-/
Part 1. The Parents Speak
10. Writing the Script: The In-Office Agenda for the Primary Triangle/m-/
Part 2. The Client Responds and the Consultant Reflects
11. Performing Outdoors: New Life at the Graveyard/m-/Renegotiation with a Deceased Former Parent
12. Production Problems: Limitations to the Method
III. Personal Authority Contextual Issues
13. Personal Authority: The Personal Story
14. Personal and Professional Authority in Professional Life
15. Personal Authority, Professional Authority, and Physical Health
16. Personal Authority and Gender Differences: Typecasting, Linda M. Walsh
17. Beyond Personal Authority
IV. Personal Authority Research
18. The Personal Authority in the Family System Questionnaire: Assessment of Intergenerational Family Relationships, James H. Bray
About the author
Donald S. Williamson, Ph.D., Baylor College of Medicine
