Foreword By Michael D. Yapko, PhD.
Introduction.
The Importance of Stories.
METAPHOR THERAPY.
The Power of Stories.
Effective Storytelling.
Stories in Therapy.
HEALING STORIES.
Enhancing Empowerment.
Acquiring Acceptance.
Reframing Negative Attitudes.
Changing Patterns of Behavior.
Learning from Experience.
Attaining Goals.
Cultivating Compassion.
Developing Wisdom.
Caring For Yourself.
Enhancing Happiness.
CREATING YOUR OWN METAPHORS.
How To Do It and How Not To Do It.
Using The PRO-Approach to Create Your Own Healing Stories.
Why Do You Teach in Stories?
Resources.
Index.
GEORGE W. BURNS is a clinical psychologist and Director of the Milton H. Erickson Institute of Western Australia. He is also a trainer of therapists and the author of Nature-Guided Therapy: Brief, Integrative Strategies for Health and Well-Being.
"George Burns' 101 Healing Stories: Using metaphors in Therapy will
reignite the spirit that can enhance everyone's commitment to help
people help themselves." "For anyone planning (or even considering)
the implementation of metaphors in healing, this book is a
must-read. It provides a comprehensive look at the topic -- in a
very user friendly style." (Brian Alman, Ph.D., author of The Six
Steps To Freedom, Self-Hypnosis, and Thin Meditations I was
captivated by this book from the Introduction to the final page.
George Burns is a rarity. He is not only a master storyteller, he
is able to do what few artists blessed with a disciplined genius
can do. He can describe what he did and why he did it.
This book is like taking a master course in metaphor and
therapeutic storytelling, complete with suggested exercises to
individualize and expand the learning. The format of the book
follows the traditional teaching model that makes learning easier:
Tell what you are going to do, do it, then describe what you did.
The book is divided into three parts: [An overview of ] Metaphor
Therapy, Healing Stories, and Creating Your Own Metaphors.
Since I supervise and teach students and interns and conduct
workshops for licensed mental health professionals, I decided to
take the book out for a "test drive" and used this book as the core
of my training for a semester.
I started with the format found in the introduction. Unlike most
books, I found the Introduction section crucial to the reading of
101 Healing Stories. It outlines not only how one was to use the
book, but how to approach the creation, development, and
presentation of therapeutic stories. In my class, this outline was
invaluable for those students who found the task of therapeutic
metaphor initially daunting. It outlined the process they were
about to experience in small, reasonable, easily understood steps.
It also reminded the more seasoned therapists of Erickson's
admonition of the need to create metaphors for the individual
client, rather than just apply a predetermined intervention to a
diagnostic category. In that same way, the Introduction presents an
open mindset for the reader to experience the stories as examples
and stimuli rather than as stock stories to indiscriminately inject
into clients.
Part One, Metaphor Therapy, presents the rationale and uses of
storytelling. It succinctly lists Ten Guidelines for Effective
Storytelling including Six Guidelines for the Storyteller's Voice.
These guidelines were very helpful for my beginning students and
nice reminders that the more seasoned therapists could review.
Part Two, Healing Stories, contained ten examples each of ten
general goals of Healing Stories: Enhancing Empowerment, Acquiring
Acceptance, Reframing Negative Attitudes, Changing Patterns of
Behavior, Learning from Experience, Attaining Goals, Cultivating
Compassion, Developing Wisdom, Caring for yourself, and Enhancing
Happiness. Each of the stories was preceded by an outline of its
therapeutic characteristics: Problems Addressed, Resources
Developed and Outcomes Offered. This format makes it easy to teach
and to learn. By listing the therapeutic characteristics prior to
telling the story and reviewing the therapeutic characteristics
afterwards, the pattern of the development of therapeutic stories
(described in Part three of the book) becomes evident. The stories
themselves are delightful. They are filled with humor and
insight.
Part Three is Creating Your Own Metaphors. It includes How to Do It
and How Not to Do It and Using the PRO-Approach to Create Your Own
Healing Stories. These sections are a structured review of what is
intuitively suggested in Part Two. I found this very useful in
translating the intuitive feelings that were stimulated by the
story formats into concrete story-making skills. The students were
able to follow the suggestions and easily generated their own
stories. Part Three ends with Story 101. This is a wonderful story
that is worth the price of the book. It combines the essence of
Erickson with the heat of Burns.
The book concludes with a significant list of References And
Professional Literature On Metaphors. These include folktales,
cross-cultural myths, legends, stories for children, religious and
spiritual stories, videotapes and internet websites. This section
reminded me of Erickson's observation that it was well and good for
a therapist to trust his unconscious, but the unconscious needs to
be fed regularly. Burns truly provides more than enough nutrition
to keep the unconscious well fed.
My test ride of the book was a resounding success. Both the
beginning students and seasoned therapists loved the content and
format of 101 Healing Stories. They found it easy to understand,
entertaining and they were able to create their own stories that
heal. If you want to develop your storytelling skills to the level
of an art, I can recommend no finer book. And, it is a good read!!
(Review by Richard Landis) "George W. Burns is indeed a master in
the art of using stories for healing purposes." (Metapsychology
Review, January 2003)
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