In this chapter, Dr. Pipher discusses her strategy for helping adolescent female patients. She says that human beings can do three things: think, feel, and behave. She tries to make an impact in all of these areas. Dr. Pipher believes that maintaining an accepting, empathic, and nonjudgmental stance is critical to helping her patients heal. She prefers "solution talk" over "problem talk". She admires the work of therapists Michael White and David Epston because "they take the pathology and shame out of therapy."
Dr. Pipher strives to help all patients increase their authenticity, openness to experience, competence, flexible thinking, and realistic appraisal of their environment. Dr. Pipher disagrees with psychologists who blame all problems on a person's childhood and are quick to label a family dysfunctional......