Letters to a Young Therapist
 Cover of the first edition | |
| Author | Vincenzo Di Nicola |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Family therapy, Psychotherapy |
| Publisher | Atropos Press |
Publication date | 2011 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 234 |
| ISBN | 978-0983173458 Search this book on  . |
| OCLC | 703204731 |
| Preceded by | A Stranger in the Family |
| Followed by | The Unsecured Present |
Letters to a Young Therapist: Relational Practices for the Coming Community[1] by Canadian child psychiatrist and family therapist Vincenzo Di Nicola is written as a series of letters to a young therapist based on 25 years' experience of conducting relational psychotherapy and family therapy, published by Atropos Press (New York & Dresden) in 2011 (ISBN 978-0983173458 Search this book on .).
Ranging from what to read and how to begin therapy, the letters cover therapeutic temperaments and technique, how to create a relational dialogue, the myths of individual psychology and the need for relational psychology, the evolution of therapy in the past century and when therapy is over - all the while looking forward to the relational practices of the coming community. This book complements Di Nicola's model of working with families presented in A Stranger in the Family: Culture, Families, and Therapy (New York and London: W.W. Norton).
Di Nicola's approach to working with families across cultures brought together a new synthesis of family therapy and transcultural psychiatry.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8] Critical reviews were positive and encouraging by leaders in family therapy, such as Mara Selvini Palazzoli[9] and Celia Jaes Falicov,[10] as well as those in transcultural psychiatry, such as Armando Favazza.[11]
This preliminary work was collected and integrated into his model of cultural family therapy in A Stranger in the Family in 1997 which preceded this volume.
Outline of the book[edit]
Advance Review:
"Di Nicola is a true master of constructive inquiry, synthesis, and brilliant creativity. Memorable aphorisms leap from every page of this very wise, thoughtful, and beautifully written book in which the healing process of discovering and making meaning to help reorder the lives of troubled persons is clarified. I highly recommend this book for all who are or would be therapists!" --Armando Favazza, M.D., M.P.H., Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry, University of Missouri-Columbia, Author of Bodies Under Siege[12]
Foreword: Letter to Vincenzo by Maurizio Andolfi, MD
"It's a beautiful idea, this project of turning to young people... The relational dialogue offers an important new direction of study to discover the deep basis of the therapeutic alliance, in order to understand the still too-little known phenomenon of 'change'... This is what you have brought together in your book: the search for the whole regarding the person and, at the same time, the network of primary affective relationships that we call the family and of social relationships ..." --Maurizio Andolfi, M.D., Director of the Academy of Family Psychotherapy, Professor of Psychology, University of Rome
Preface: The liquid modern language of therapy
The author introduces his project of recasting therapy in postmodern terms, eschewing 19th century determinism and positivism to embrace the pluralistic, multicentric present that Zygmunt Bauman calls liquid modernity. The task in this volume is to introduce therapy to young therapists by answering questions they often pose about the nature of therapy and its practice.
First Letter: People come into therapy in order not to change[13]
The author addresses a question posed to him by a young Portuguese therapist about when therapy begins. This is related to the first insight the author shares: people come into therapy in order not to change. The author concludes his first letter with the thought that relational psychology and therapy are what Freud's vision looks like when freed from the biological determinism and social physics of his era. Lastly, the author advises the young therapist to avoid another trap - of technopoly, which Neil Postman defined as "the surrender of culture to technology" which is "at war with subjectivity" - and accept that the work of therapy is saturated in subjectivity.
Second Letter: Therapeutic temperaments
Elaborates two therapeutic temperaments coined by the author in previous work - the technocratic and the phenomenological temperaments.
Third Letter: The family as a unique culture
The author discusses three metaphors for the family: as a crucible (Carl Whitaker's symbolic-experiential family therapy), as a text (Michael White's narrative therapy), and as its own unique culture (Vincenzo Di Nicola's cultural family therapy).
Fourth Letter: Changing the subject
The "subject" of psychology and psychotherapy is addressed. The myth of the individual as the subject of psychology is contrasted with common cultural view of relationships, both negative and positive.
Fifth Letter: One hundred years of invisibility
Explores the invisibility of mental illness and other outcasts in society, describes the evolution of therapy as one of increasing visibility and openness. Therapy has also progressed through three eras: the symptom, therapy, and change where symptoms became reframed, reconnoted, and decentered.
Sixth Letter: Making meaning
Examines meaning, ethics and technique. Social constructivism is contrasted with evolutionary psychology. Three case vignettes are presented - Ludwig Binswanger's Ellen West and two Portuguese immigrant families the author treated.
Seventh Letter: And on the seventh day, the Lord rested ...
Discusses the flow of therapy and termination.
Coda - The future of therapy: Convocation for conviviality
The prospects of therapy extrapolated from current trends.
Essays
- Coherence, dignity, unfolding: Three principles for ethical work with children and families
- States of exception, states of dissociation: Cyranoids, zombies and liminal people
Reception[edit]
Letters to a Young Therapist[1] received numerous reviews and citations,[14][15] including this positive Amazon review by cultural psychiatrist Armando Favazza:
"As a very critical Professor of Psychiatry I am amazed by this thoughtful and beautifully written book. Di Nicola has managed to bring together relevant information from culture and science in a masterful synthesis of what all therapists, not only young ones, should know. I have highlighted material on just about every page so I can return to reread it. I have published many articles and books, and I consider myself to be well informed about therapy, but this book introduced me to new information and many marvelous anecdotes, stories, and quotes. There are not many books that I would consider to be "wise," but this is one of them. I recommend it highly." [16]
In 2011, Di Nicola was awarded the Camille Laurin Prize of the Fédération des médecins spécialistes du Québec (Federation of Medical Specialists of Quebec) for this book.[17] The first letter from this book was translated into Portuguese and published in the Brazilian family therapy journal, Revista Pensando Famílias.[18]
The book was launched and featured at numerous events, including the Washington Psychiatric Society of the American Psychiatric Association (DC, USA), the World Psychiatric Association regional congress (Bucharest, Romania) where it was introduced and discussed by Professor Ileana Botezat-Antonescu, and a philosophy conference (SUNY Brockport, USA).[19][20][21][22]
This work was cited in a Master's thesis in social work on relational aspects of shame,[23] a review of children's mental health,[24] and research on identity narrative with implications for child and adolescent psychotherapy.[25]
As part of a body of work starting with his synthesis of family therapy and transcultural psychiatry,[26][3][4][5][27][28][29] which culminated in his first book, A Stranger in the Family and was further elaborated in this volume, Di Nicola continued to refine his model of relational psychotherapy and family therapy in his clinical practice and teaching and through invitations to present the 4th Annual Stokes Endowment Lecture in family studies at The George Washington University[30] and a thirty-year perspective on his model presented at McGill University where he first developed it[31] and the Accademia di Psicoterapia della Famiglia in Rome, Italy where Di Nicola's model is taught.[32]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Di Nicola, Vincenzo (2011). Letters to a Young Therapist: Relational Practices for the Coming Community (1st ed.). New York & Dresden: Atropos Press. p. 234. ISBN 978-0983173458. OCLC 703204731. Search this book on
- ↑ DiNicola, Vincenzo F. (1985). "Le tiers monde à notre porte: Les immigrants et la thérapie familiale [The Third World in our own back¬yard: Immigrants and family therapy]". Systèmes Humains. 1(3): 39–54.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 DiNicola, Vincenzo F. (1985). "Family Therapy and Transcultural Psychiatry: An Emerging Synthesis Part I: The Conceptual Basis". Transcultural Psychiatric Research Review. 22 (2): 81–113. doi:10.1177/136346158502200201. ISSN 0041-1108.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 DiNicola, Vincenzo F. (1985). "Family Therapy and Transcultural Psychiatry: An Emerging Synthesis: Part II: Portability and Culture Change". Transcultural Psychiatric Research Review. 22 (3): 151–180. doi:10.1177/136346158502200301. ISSN 0041-1108.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 DiNicola, Vincenzo F. (1986). "Beyond Babel: Family therapy as cultural translation". International Journal of Family Psychiatry. 7 (2): 179–191.
- ↑ DiNicola, Vincenzo. The strange and the familiar: Cross‑cultural encounters among families, therapists, and consultants. In M Andolfi & R Haber (Eds), Please Help Me With This Family: Using Consultants as Resources in Family Therapy. New York: Brunner/Mazel, 1994, pp. 33‑52. ISBN 978-0876307489 Search this book on .
- ↑ DiNicola, Vincenzo (1997). "Nuove realta sociali, nuovi modelli di terapia: Terapia familiare culturale per un mondo in trasformazione" [New social realities, new models of therapy: Cultural family therapy for a changing world]. Terapia Familiare (in italiano). Rome. 54: 5–9. eISSN 1972-5442. ISSN 0391-2868.
- ↑ DiNicola, Vincenzo (1997). "Culture and the web of meaning: Creating family and social contexts for human predicaments". Dolentium Hominum: Church and Health in the World. Journal of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers. Vatican City. 34: 97–100. OCLC 759478340.
- ↑ Selvini Palazzoli, Mara (1986). "COMMENTS ON DI NICOLA'S "FAMILY THERAPY AND TRANSCULTURAL PSYCHIATRY: PARTS 1 AND 2 (Published in T.P.R.R. Volume XXII, Nos. 2 and 3, pp. 81-113 and 151-180). LETTER FROM MARA SELVINI PALAZZOLI, M.D., Nuovo Centro Per Lo Studio Della Famiglia, Viale Vitorio Veneto, 12, Milano 21124, Italy". Transcultural Psychiatric Research Review. 23 (1): 83–85. doi:10.1177/136346158602300114. ISSN 0041-1108.
- ↑ Falicov, Celia Jaes (1986). "Comments on DI NICOLA'S Family Therapy and Transcultural Psychiatry: Parts 1 and 2 (TPRR, XXII, Nos. 2 and 3, pp. 81-113 and 151-180), by CELIA JAES FALICOV, San Diego Family Institute and Department of Psychiatry, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, U. S. A". Transcultural Psychiatric Research Review. 23 (2): 165–169. doi:10.1177/136346158602300218. ISSN 0041-1108.
- ↑ Favazza, Armando R (1986). "LETTER FROM ARMANDO R. FAVAZZA, M.D., Section of General Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Missouri-Columbia, Three Hospital Drive, Columbia, Missouri 65201, U.S.A". Transcultural Psychiatric Research Review. 23 (1): 86–91. doi:10.1177/136346158602300115. ISSN 0041-1108.
- ↑ Favazza, Armando (February 21, 2011). "Letters to a Young Therapist".
- ↑ Di Nicola, Vincenzo (2012). "Carta a um Jovem Terapeuta: "Pessoas Iniciam Terapia para Não Mudar" [Letter to a Young Therapist: "People Come Into Therapy In Order Not to Change"]". Revista Pensando Famílias (in português). Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil. 16(1): 15–27. ISSN 1679-494X.
- ↑ Manolescu, Christina (10 November 2011). "Introducing the book, Letters to a Young Therapist, by Vincenzo Di Nicola". Invisible Cities Network. Retrieved 2020-08-05.
- ↑ Farnsworth, DG (3 February 2016). "Rodrigo García Olza: HIDALGO TWINS". Amazon.com. p. 204. ISBN 1523829389.CS1 maint: Date and year (link)
- ↑ Favazza, Armando (February 21, 2011). "Letters to a Young Therapist".
- ↑ "AMPQ Annual Prizes". Fédération des médecins spécialistes du Québec. June 4, 2011. Retrieved April 1, 2012.
- ↑ Di Nicola, Vincenzo (2012). "Carta a um Jovem Terapeuta: "Pessoas Iniciam Terapia para Não Mudar" [Letter to a Young Therapist: "People Come Into Therapy In Order Not to Change"]". Revista Pensando Famílias (in português). Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil. 16(1): 15–27. ISSN 1679-494X.
- ↑ Di Nicola, Vincenzo (28 April 2012). "Book Talk: The Parallax Gap: Viewing the Subject that is Subject to Change. A Reading from Letters to a Young Therapist, Žižek Studies Conference 2012, The College at Brockport, NY, April 28, 2012". www.slideshare.net. Retrieved 2020-08-02. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Di Nicola, Vincenzo (1 April 2013). "Workshop: Letters to a Young Therapist, Chair Ileana-Mihaela Botezat-Antonescu (Romania), Speaker Vincenzo Di Nicola (Canada), Romanian Journal of Psychiatry, XV, Supplement 1, April 2013, 86-87". www.academia.edu. Retrieved 2020-08-02. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Botezat-Antonescu, Ileana-Mihaela (11 April 2013). "Introduction to Workshop: Letters to a Young Therapist by Vincenzo Di Nicola". www.researchgate.net/publication/311951659. Retrieved 2020-08-05. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Di Nicola, Vincenzo (1 April 2013). "Letters to a Young Psychotherapist, CLM Dinner Meeting, Washington Psychiatric Society, Cosmos Club, Washington, DC, USA". www.dcpsych.org/gmhp-newsletter. Retrieved 2020-08-02. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Collura, Nicholas J. (2014). "Alone with the other: paradoxes of shame and recognition in psychoanalytic theory, case material and Home alone". scholarworks.smith.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://scholar.google.co.in/&httpsredir=1&article=1827&context=theses. Retrieved 2020-08-05. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Gignac, Martin; Boileau, Bernard; Bedwani, Charles (2015). "La croisée des chemins, 50 ans de soins aux enfants". 40(2): 191–203. doi:10.7202/1033051ar.
- ↑ Novac, Andrei; Tuttle, Margaret C.; Blinder, Barton J. (2019). "Identity Narrative and Its Role in Biological Survival: Implications for Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy". Journal of Infant, Child, and Adolescent Psychotherapy. 18(2): 155–184. doi:10.1080/15289168.2019.1583053.
- ↑ DiNicola, Vincenzo F. (1985). "Le tiers monde à notre porte: Les immigrants et la thérapie familiale [The Third World in our own back¬yard: Immigrants and family therapy]". Systèmes Humains. 1(3): 39–54.
- ↑ DiNicola, Vincenzo. The strange and the familiar: Cross‑cultural encounters among families, therapists, and consultants. In M Andolfi & R Haber (Eds), Please Help Me With This Family: Using Consultants as Resources in Family Therapy. New York: Brunner/Mazel, 1994, pp. 33‑52. ISBN 978-0876307489 Search this book on .
- ↑ DiNicola, Vincenzo (1997). "Nuove realta sociali, nuovi modelli di terapia: Terapia familiare culturale per un mondo in trasformazione" [New social realities, new models of therapy: Cultural family therapy for a changing world]. Terapia Familiare (in italiano). Rome. 54: 5–9. eISSN 1972-5442. ISSN 0391-2868.
- ↑ DiNicola, Vincenzo (1997). "Culture and the web of meaning: Creating family and social contexts for human predicaments". Dolentium Hominum: Church and Health in the World. Journal of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers. Vatican City. 34: 97–100. OCLC 759478340.
- ↑ Di Nicola, Vincenzo (April 25, 2013). "Grand Rounds: The 4th Annual Stokes Endowment Lecture | The Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences". smhs.gwu.edu. Retrieved 2020-03-19. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Di Nicola, Vincenzo (18 March 2016). "Grand Rounds: From the Threshold to the Event: Thirty Years of Cultural Family Therapy - Dr. Vincenzo Di Nicola". McGill University Department of Psychiatry. Retrieved 2020-03-19. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Di Nicola, Vincenzo (April 9, 2016). "Dalla Soglia all'Evento: Lo Svolgimento della Terapia Familiare Culturale. Giornata di Lezioni Teoriche - Accademia di Psicoterapia della Famiglia, Roma, Italia" [From the Threshold to the Event: The Development of Cultural Family Therapy. Academic Teaching Day - Academy of Family Psychotherapy, Rome, Italy]. www.slideshare.net/PhiloShrink (in Italian). Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help)CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link)
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