Harlene Anderson

Harlene Anderson (born December 1, 1942 ) is an American psychologist , psychotherapist and non-fiction author who is considered the founder of postmodern psychotherapy , which is part of the systemic therapy . She teaches at the Our Lady of the Lake University , Houston , and lives in Mount Vernon ( Texas ).

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Anderson was a co-founder of the Houston Galveston Institute (HGI) in 1977 , along with Paul F. Dell , Harold A. Goolishian, and George Pulliam . The institute was innovative at the time, in which it gave narrative , language and conversation a central role, demanded the non-knowing position of the therapist, his equality with the client and the recognition of a "problem-organizing system". In its combination of practice, teaching and research, the HGI was attractive to numerous students from Germany and abroad.

“Collaborative Approach” is what the Houstonians called their approach, which included the therapist's hierarchical waiver. Anderson first used this colloquial technique in family therapy and marriage counseling , eventually also in hospitals and other health facilities, today also in organizations, in business, teaching and research. This approach is called postmodern in particular because everything that appears useful from the traditional canon of forms of psychotherapy is used without restriction - regardless of ideologies or intellectual attachment to the origin. Anderson unabashedly advocates personal success and individual pursuit of wealth and influence, lifelong learning, and efficiency in relationships and personal life. The motto “Anything goes” and “Success counts” dominate her therapies and coaching.

Anderson used her ambition in several new institutions - as a co-founder of Access Success International , the Houston Galveston Institute and the Taos Institute , but also as a board member of the Family Business Institute and Texas Medical Assistance and Development . In the 1980s she was one of the co-founders of the systemic family therapy course at the Psychotherapeutic Institute Bergerhausen in Germany , together with Harold A. Goolishian and Hans-Werner Gessmann . Her books have been translated into Danish, German, Japanese, Spanish and Swedish. She gives lectures and workshops in several countries.

Awards

• 1998 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Texas Association for Marriage and Family Therapy
• 2000 Outstanding Contributions to Marriage and Family Therapy Award from the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy

Publications

A number of articles published by Harlene Anderson and other founders of the Galveston Family Institute in the 1980s can be found in Harold A. Goolishian's list of publications .

In English

• Innovations in the Reflecting Process: The Inspiration of Tom Andersen. (Ed. With Per Jensen). Sterling 2007
• Collaborative Therapy: Relationships and Conversations that Make a Difference. (Ed. With Diane Gehart). New York 2006
• Appreciative Organizations. (Co-author, together with D. Cooperrider, K. Gergen, M. Gergen, S. McNamee & D. Whitney). Chagrin Falls 2001
• Conversations, Language and Possibilities: A Postmodern Approach to Therapy. New York 1997
• Is diagnosis a disaster? A Constructionist Trialogue. In: Kaslow, Florence W. (ed.): Handbook of Relational Diagnosis & Dysfunctional Family Patterns. Wiley & Sons, Chichester 1996

In German language

• The Therapeutic Conversation: The Equal Dialogue as a Perspective of Change. Stuttgart 1999. ISBN 3-608-91978-3
• Diagnosis - a disaster? A constructionist trialogue. Kenneth J. Gergen , Lynn Hoffman, and Harlene Anderson . Journal for Systemic Therapy 1997 (4): 224-241

Web links

• Homepage of Harlene Anderson
• Houston Galveston Institute
• Diagnosis - a disaster? (PDF file; 6 kB)