Inclusive Therapy

Bill O’Hanlon’s “A Field guide to possibility land” was essential reading for any therapist or person in the helping profession. His most recent book “A guide to inclusive therapy” is another milestone. It uses the same short, snappy sections each developing a certain method or technique: “validate the resistance”;” use oxymoron and apposition of opposites”;” acknowledge by changing reality statements into perceptions”, and so on.

Bill develops a theme which also appears in his classic “Solution focused hypnosis” which is about giving people permission to experience what they need to and to validate who they are. Most importantly, this is about giving permission both to experience and not to experience something, sometimes at the same time. If we consider that over-emotional thinking is “black and white” then this is the other end of the spectrum: the ultimate in shades and paradox. He quotes the physicist Neils Bohr: “a great truth is a truth whose opposite is also a great truth.

He discusses how people can reconnect with those disowned, dissociated and devalued parts of themselves; although clearly developing further the ideas of Erickson he is also using bits of Gestalt and Jungian psychology; also his excursions into spirituality are well done, resisting new age flakiness and arise naturally out of the idea of inclusion, and as one might expect with a Taoist/Buddhist flavour.

Overall a great book, written with usual wit and wisdom.