Families can develop self-destructive routines so predictable that members seem to be following a script each coming in on cue as the plot unfolds. Such scripts can be altered, however, when therapists help clients learn to improvise new patterns of relating. This book presents an innovative approach to doing just that--incorporating into therapy elements of script theory and recent findings in attachment research, including those related to narrative. Developing a new attachment concept, "the secure family base," from which individuals can feel safe enough to explore and improvise new...

Part of the Tavistock Clinic Series, this book focuses on narrative and stories in Family Systems Therapy - particularly on how stories develop within the domain of a therapist's own theoretical, clinical and professional contexts. The aim is to allow the reader to understand the uses of stories in family therapy.