Elam W. Nunnally

A communication training program for couples

A structured educational program attempts to increase each partners self awareness and contribution to interaction within significant relationships

The Minnesota Couples Communication Program.

are providing feedback to Jim and Carol, one of the participant couples, immediately after a three-minute dialogue between them. In the exercise each couple discusses a real issue for three minutes, and then receives five to ten minutes of feedback from other group members. Feedback focuses on the skills used or missing in their exchange. The exercise occurs toward the end of Session 2, at a point when group members have been introduced to several of the skills and concepts taught in the program. Characteristics of the MCCP illustrated in the excerpt are discussed in the article.

Solution Focused Therapy

Solution focused therapy originated with a group of marriage and family therapists in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (de Shazer, 1985, 1988; Nunnally et al., 1986). In the mid-1970s, this group of researcher clinicians began experimenting with the brief therapy approach originated at the Mental Research Institute in Palo Alto, California (Watzlawick et al., 1974). The influence of the MRI model was initially noticeable in the Milwaukee group’s attention to problem formulation, goal setting, and the uses of homework assignments (de Shazer, 1982). Some influence from the Mil-an group of therapists (Selvini-Palazzolli et al., 1978) can be discerned in the early 1980s in task construction and use of timing (Nunnally & Berg, 1983). Influence from the Milan group can also be found in the Milwaukee group’s evolving uses of “systemic questioning” (Lipchik & de Shazer, 1986). By 1980 the Milwaukee group’s model of brief therapy had evolved to the point where it was distinctly their own although still rather close to the MRI brief therapy approach, as can be seen in a major work by de Shazer (1982). Probably the major innovations in the Milwaukee model at that time were the uses of positive feedback or “compliments” and a view of the problem pattern as a system with multiple points for intervention.

Book Review: Men in Therapy: Thc Challenge of ChangeMen in Therapy: Thc Challenge of Change. By MethRichard L. and PasickRobert S. with GordonBarry, AllenJo Ann, FeldmanLarry B., and GordonSylvia. New York: Guilford Press, 1990. 284 pp.

cant than does following more general principles, which transcend most therapeutic systems. For example, the use of the therapeutic relationship is common to most therapeutic systems, as are the facilitation of affective expression and selfexploration. Despite differences among models of practice regarding what is done with material elicited from clients, the sharing of feelings and perceptions is commonly considered to be helpful. Interestingly, Kottler gives much less emphasis than is ordinarily provided to the role of specific techniques and interventions. Rather, he highlights specific characteristics and abilities of the practitioner and their relationship to effective clinical practice. For example, Kottler emphasizes the role that patience, sensitivity, risk taking, credibility, and humor play in the practitioner’s ability to influence his or her clients. This approach represents a departure from clinical practice that tends to equate effectiveness with more and better techniques and stresses a “doing to” rather than a “being with” clients. Kottler’s analyses facilitate a broad scientific and philosophical understanding of clinical practice. These kinds of analyses influence and contribute to the development of integrated practice models, which Kottler views as essential to effective practice. In this regard, Kottler does a masterful job of integrating his discussion of the nature of clinical inference and the kind of thinking referred to as heuristic, both of which are significant clinical activities that facilitate determination of what is happening with clients. The differences between clinical judgment and heuristic thinking represent the epitome of Kottler’s notion of an integrated practice model. Involved in clinical inference is the objective organization of information, perceptions, and feelings, which ultimately suggest hypotheses and patterns regarding what is occurring in clients’ lives. On the other hand, heuristic thinking involves subjective perception and intuitive processes that put us in touch with the personal meanings of the client’s experiences. Both clinical inference and heuristic thinking are essential aspects of effective clinical practice. Kottler accomplishes many things in his new book. Perhaps the most important accomplishment, however, is the broadening of our scientific and philosophical understanding of clinical practice. Arguments regarding which school of thought is the final word about absolute truth fall short of capturing the actualities of clinical practice. The same is true of arguments that pit objective and subjective knowledge against each other and claim validity for only one of the two. The truth lies somewhere in the middle, and in that regard Kottler’s new book is “compleat” and should be of value to students and practitioners of all clinical persuasions.