The Dialogical Therapist

by Paolo Bertrando

Published 27 September 2007
In this book, the author describes the dialogic therapist as someone whose therapy is guided by the use of systemic hypotheses, helping the readers understand how the ideas and techniques can take their place among the vast array of ideas in the systemic field.

Emotions and the Therapist

by Paolo Bertrando

Published 23 October 2015
In recent years, systemic theory and practice adopted a dialogical orientation, centred on the persons of the therapist and client. This has led to a growing attention toward emotions, which, in this book, is developed in terms of emotional systems. An emotional system in therapy may be viewed as the sum of the emotions existing and interacting in people's lives. Relevant changes in life happen when emotional stances and sequences change within the system, leading, for example, to a greater sense of agency or hope, or to a different perception of the situation. This book looks at emotions within human systems in terms of dominant and silent emotions, which shape and are shaped by human relationships, and may be played in several ways according to reciprocal emotional positioning. The therapist uses his or her own feeling, and understanding of the emotions within the therapeutic dialogue, in order to create hypotheses and new dialogues which allow change.