Virginia Satir: the Patterns of Her Magic

Book Synopsis: This book provides a detailed analysis of how family therapy pioneer Virginia Satir--one of the greatest therapists of our time--helped people solve problems in relationships. The first section of the book describes 16 key themes in Satir's work--the techniques and ideas she used to move people from their current situations to their desired outcomes. Satir skillfully reframed perceptions and attitudes, and installed useful presuppositions about positive intentions, alternative choices and learnings. She did this using physical contact, exaggeration, and humor. She directly challenged limiting beliefs and overgeneralizations, and used a wide range of hypnotic language patterns to help clients see events in new ways.

The second section is a richly-annotated verbatim transcript of a 73-minute videotaped session with Linda, a woman who started out with great resentment toward her mother, but who ended with a deep appreciation and loving understanding of her mother's behavior and attitudes. A follow-up interview with Linda, conducted three years later, shows the permanent impact of the changes Satir had achieved with her. Steve Andreas' insightful commentary reveals the subtlety, precision, and wisdom of Satir's methods, both verbal and nonverbal. Therapists and other professionals who seek positive change in their clients can learn a lot from his book.

From the Publisher (Introduction by Steve Andreas) Virginia Satir is almost universally acknowledged as one of the most powerful and effective therapists of the century. Throughout a career spanning some forty-five years, she developed systematic ways of helping people grow and change. Her remarkable warmth and precision in working with people was developed by her fine ability to observe what worked--and what didn't--to move people closer to their desired outcomes When learning from experts, it is usually much more important to observe what they actually do, than it is to listen to what they say about what they do. Our descriptions of our own behavior are often biased and myopic, and we all know how to do much more than we can explain to someone else. This was particularly true of Virginia, who was continually moving away from her psychiatric-based training of the 1940s, and intuitively pioneering new ways of helping people learn how to deal with life's inevitable problems.

Most therapists' descriptions of their therapy tend to be global and unspecific. Virginia, for instance, would talk about "gaining trust," "making contact," "building positive self-worth," and the importance of the "human connection" and an "I-thou relationship." Although she demonstrated these skills exquisitely, she was much less able to specify exactly how she accomplished them, either verbally or nonverbally. To learn how she actually achieved these things, we have to study her work itself. Although few therapists are willing to demonstrate publicly what they do--they prefer to practice privately--Virginia was a happy exception. Not only did she conduct thousands of public demonstrations during her long career, she also freely allowed videotape recording. Probably as many videotaped hours of Virginia's work exist as of all other prominent therapists combined. Used with a verbatim transcript, a videotape makes it possible to analyze the fine details of verbal communication, the accompanying nonverbal communication which is even richer and more complex, the ongoing interplay between the verbal and nonverbal communication, and the flow and sequence of the session as a whole. Repeated review brings an ever-deepening understanding of the process of change.