Beyond Therapy
Subtitle: Igniting Life Focus Community Movements
By: Erving Polster
Edition: First edition.
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2017
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 224
ISBN-13: 9781351295765
Subjects: Self-help groups; Psychotherapy; Self-Help Groups; Groupes d'entraide
Description: "In Beyond Therapy, Erving Polster examines the role of "life focus" in three of society's most familiar activities: ordinary conversation, the arts, and religion. He shows the life focus movement to be an indivisible complement to just simply living. In proposing a paradigm shift from psychotherapy's priority for changing people's troubled lives into the complementary purpose of illuminating their lives, the author invites the participation of many people who do not seek remedial treatment for emotional or psychological problems. Polster incorporates a broader scenario for enhancing attention through community groups, showing that the convergence of people's minds on commonly important life themes creates enlightenment. This interlocked focus amplifies the ensuing conversational content and creates a meditation-like absorption. This kind of pointed focus, argues Polster, has the power to colour the lives of the participants. This work offers rationale and design for life focus community groups, and also creates a heightened identity for the life focus movement, providing other foundational ideas that help to unify diverse approaches. Mental health professionals will benefit from its wealth of specific exercises and instructions for program design. Polster provides leaders and group members with a well-rounded perspective on the basics of personal enlightenment and communal belonging."--Provided by publisher.
Table of contents: title: Chapter 1 What I Mean By Life Focus  -- Erving Polster; title: chapter 2 The Drama of the Split Mind  -- Erving Polster; title: chapter 3 Life as Microcosm  -- Erving Polster; title: chapter 4 A Focus Revolution  -- Erving Polster; title: section A The Importance of Life Focus --; title: chapter 5 Life Focus Community: Design Ideas  -- Erving Polster; title: chapter 6 Artful Engagement  -- Erving Polster; title: chapter 7 Themes that Mark a Lifetime  -- Erving Polster; title: chapter 8 Communal Setting  -- Erving Polster; title: section B How Life Focus Groups Work --; title: chapter 9 From the Supernatural to the Human: Part 1  -- Erving Polster; title: chapter 10 From the Supernatural to the Human: Part 2  -- Erving Polster; title: chapter 11 A Psychotherapeutic Morality  -- Erving Polster; title: chapter 12 Dependable Identity  -- Erving Polster; title: chapter 13 Belonging and Indivisibility  -- Erving Polster; title: chapter 14 A Social Trust  -- Erving Polster; title: section C Social Implications of Life Focus.