This wonderful book takes you out of the box! "Impossible cases might no longer be a luxury we can afford," the authors begin, because of Managed Care, they continue, but when COULD we afford "impossible cases"? We're talking about people and their lives after all.

"Historically," they continue, "impossibility has been located in the client." And the self-fulfillingness of the diagnosis of "impossible" is also discussed. You can see they aren't afraid to take on sacred elephants!

In case after actual case, they show how optimism, flexibility and meeting client's needs can bring success, giving such obvious-and-therefore-overlooked advice as "What the client wants from treatment may be the single most important piece of information that can be obtained."

Full of optimisim and fresh approaches ("It is the unpredictability of client methods and accomplishments that makes this work fun.") that rather go against traditional methods -- well these cases are considered "impossible" because others have tried and failed -- they encourage the practitioner to be different and try new things. And it isn't just theory _ they give plenty of concrete examples of how-to.

But to me the best thing about the book is their deep, abiding respect for people as individuals, not cases. As one client wrote after therapy, "...it was your believing in me, that I was a person and not a patient ... a person with potential and worth."

"Looking beyond labels and giving clients the benefit of a doubt is critical with psychotherapy veterans," say the authors. They challenge helpers to move beyond labels, to replace history with a "competing experience of acceptance and validation" and "watch what clients can really do."

If you're a beginner, this book is for you. If you're a worn-down veteran, this book is especially for you. And if you're in between, it is also for you.

Psychotherapy with "Impossible" Cases is a book that makes a therapist feel like he or she has the best possible occupation. It is a call to remember both the resources all human beings bring to their life experiences, and the potential pitfalls of getting mired solely in the medical model perspective of change. Duncan et al., give inspiring case examples to portray the importance of sincerely reflecting all persons' dignity back to them in the therapy process, regardless of the complaint/diagnosis. In addition, the authors weave in research and relevant literature that clearly outline the need for more careful scrutiny of the mental health professional community, particulary the views practitioners and organizations hold and propogate about the role adversity plays in human lives, and how healing occurs.

This book clearly expressed the passions that the authors have for doing good therapy. The cases were described with such richness, great detail. Once again, the authors challenge the everyday thinking of how to do therapy and lend some inspiration for tackling challenges.

I read Barry Bonds stars of sport
I thought it was cool because berry bonds played for the Pittsburgh Pirates
And the San Francisco Giants and those are my favorite teams.
I think people who play baseball will really like this book!
I recommend this book because this book is a great informational book about
Baseball

I collect books on solitaire. I would not recommend this
to anyone but a collector -- there are much better books
in print, such as Morehead and Mott-Smith's "The Complete
Book of Solitaire and Patience Games" or Parlett's
"Teach Yourself Card Games for One". Barry claims to
have selected the best games in her book, but it is still
littered with junk like Auld Lang Syne (a virtually
unwinnable game with no skill). The descriptions are
often incomplete and occasionally wrong (her description
of Pyramid, allowing cards to be used a second time after
being discarded, is nonsensical). She describes Storehouse
as a minor variant of Canfield; it's actually a forerunner
where cards are packed in suit. She rates games by
amount of space used (an interesting feature) and level
(it's not clear if this is supposed to be win rate, in
which case many of the ratings are wrong, or something
else). Myron Miller's illustrations are nice, but the
book has little else to recommend it, either in selection
of games, or clarity and accuracy.

This book has a nice assortment of games, but despite the illustrations and descriptions, many games are left unplayable unless you are comfortable improvising your own rules. I have to use a secondary source to gain a clearer understanding of the play and objectives.

This book makes no attempt to be comprehensive in its listing of solitaire games, but the games it does describe are described in large print, with diagrams, and examples for the games that are not so obvious. This was useful to me as some of the more comprehensive books (and web-sites) keep the directions minimal. Certainly a good buy at this price.