One Couple, Four Realities: Multiple Perspectives on Couple Therapy

Rating:
Summary: interesting concept...got dull at times...+ framo was cruel
Review: the concept is interesting. even though they say it's just demonstration interviews, it's really a therapy contest...to see who's the best...a shrink-off. you know all the therapists' goal was to each do the best and get the prize, the kudos from the couple, who actually later do grade them, just like i'm grading this book here, though they give them a score between one and ten.

for the competitor in all of us, this book calls out.

nevertheless, there was tons of wooden gunk in between the good stuff, tons of dull and essentially meaningless essays about theory and practice, etc, and that was worth skipping over or skimming... you decide.

and last but not at all least: that guy Framo was a big jerk. he so obviously bulled the woman in the couple into "opening up" and becoming vulnerable in front of her family, which is exactly what she didn't want to do (good instinct on her part), and he kept promising her he'd support her, which is exactly what he! DIDN'T DO! he was exceedingly manipulative with her, and that had to be the most manipulative transcript of a therapy session i'd ever read. i mean, this guy's a master, and he totally disguises his own motives. also, he completely protected the parents at the expense of the daughter (though he was slippery enough about it to not make it look so), and ultimately, i believe, acted not at all in her best interest, and may have damaged her worse than she knew. and on top of all that, he did it in such a slimy way that she THANKED HIM PROFUSELY FOR IT AFTERWARDS!!! it was only six YEARS later that she realized...just a little bit...how far he'd gone in manipulating her...but she was still thanking him. he messed with her head in a big way.

and by the way, the editors of the book "just play neutral" when it comes to Framo's behavior. this is sick stuff. but you read it and decide.