The Strategic Dialogue: Rendering the Diagnostic Interview a Real Therapeutic Intervention

The Strategic Dialogue is a fine strategy by which one can achieve maximum results with minimum effort. It was developed through a natural evolutionary process from previous treatments for particular pathologies, and composed of therapeutic stratagems and specific sequences of ad hoc maneuvres constructed for different types of problems. This book represents both the starting and finishing line of all of the research, clinical practice, and managerial consulting performed by professor Giorgio Nardone and Paul Watzlawick over a fifteen year period at the Centro Terapia Strategica of Arezzo (Strategic Therapy Center). This work can be referred to as the finishing line because the Strategic Dialogue, an advanced therapeutic method of conducting a therapy session and inducing radical changes rapidly in the patient, represents the culmination of all that has been achieved so far in the field.

Table of Contents:
ContentsPreface by Paul WatzlawickPreface by Giorgio Nardone 1 The discovery of the forgotten2 The Structure of the Strategic Dialogue3 The Strategic Dialogue in Action: examples of advanced technological magic4 Dialogue on the Strategic Dialogue

About the Author :
Giorgio Nardone is director of Centro di Terapia Strategica (Strategic Therapy Center) and of the Post Graduate School of Brief Strategic Therapy Center in Arezzo, Italy. He is also professor of Brief Psychotherapy at the Post Graduate School of Clinical Psychology, University of Siena, Italy. He has published numerous articles and several books translated into many foreign languages. He is renowed as one of the most creative therapists and authors in the field of Brief Strategic Therapy and Strategic Problem Solving. his systematic and effective models for treating phobic, obsessive disorders and eating disorders are followed by many psychotherapists all around the world. Alessandro Salvini is a clinical psychologist. He teaches psycho-pathology and clinical psychology at the University of Padova. He has focused his research on the exploration of dissociative personality processes, clinical psychology, new models of psychotherapy in a transcultural perspective, gender disturbances, diversity and deviances, states of consciousness, and inner voices experiences. He is currently involved in the Brief Strategic Therapy Training School (Brief Strategic Therapy Training MRI Model) and is an active member of the Centre for Strategic Therapy, Arezzo.

Review :
'The strategic dialogue, as defined by the authors, is in fact the synthesis of the evolution of ancient rhetoric and modern pragmatism in communication, the noble Art of Stratagems and the application of Ericksonian hypotheses to the clinical field. Further gratification derives from the fact that Giorgio Nardone has been able to develop new ideas and to put together further original therapeutic techniques, which render this work both innovative and seminal. The therapeutic power of the strategic dialogue resides in its "surprising essentiality" or, better, in guiding persons entrapped in their problems to come to discover the solution in a sort of natural and spontaneous evolution throughout the therapeutic conversation. This text is a "must read", not only for therapists, but also for all those interested in the study of communication and its therapeutic effects who, while going through its pages, will uncover a sort of "magical code".' - Paul Watzlawick, from the Preface 'Nardone and Salvini have written a ground-breaking and superb book which offers therapists a highly practical conversational framework for co- constructing change in the very first session with clients presenting with a wide range of serious and intractable difficulties. The brief therapy field has been in need of something fresh, innovative, and well-researched for some time and Nardone and Salvini have successfully provided that gift in their book The Strategic Dialogue. If you wish to read about a cutting-edge method for conducting effective brief therapy with even the most challenging clients, this book is for you!' - Matthew D. Selekman, MSW, Co-Director, Partners for Collaborative Solutions and author of Pathways to Change: Brief Therapy with Difficult Adolescents'Giorgio Nardone sets forth a liberating invitation to view every moment of a therapist's presence as an expression of influence. I applaud his recommendation for therapists to become more responsible and effective participants in the flow of therapeutic (that is, strategic) dialogue. The current state of psychotherapy needs this wake-up call!' - Bradford Keeney, PhD, Clinical Director, Center for Children and Families, Monroe, Louisiana, Professor, California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco'Nardone and Salvini artfully describe essentials of brief psychotherapy in eminently practical terms. Their Strategic Dialogue has been proven in practice and research, and is applicable to a wide variety of clinical problems. The question is: will you utilize the strategic gems contained in this book intentionally, or will you discover in retrospect that you have used them because they are an elegant path to enduring change?' - Jeffrey K. Zeig, PhD, Director of The Milton Erickson Foundation 'Nardone offers the reader something precious and rare in the field of psychotherapy and personal change: explicit therapeutic goals that are carefully tailored to the dynamics of specific kinds of problems, and operationally-defined ways to reach those goals by reorienting the client's attention.' - Steve Andreas, Trainer, Consultant and Developer in Neuro-Linguistic Programming