Innovations in Postmodern Practice: Continuing The Postmodern Therapy Dialogue: An Introduction

Abstract

This special section on postmodern innovations in practice was prompted because of my genuine curiosity, and perhaps some nostalgia. What exciting new developments were going on in postmodern approaches to therapy? Where was the creativity in our field, especially after one of our most important seers, Lynn Hoffman, recently (1998) declared that it was time we “set aside the model in family therapy”? My possible nostalgia—like a yearning some still have for the ’60s—was for the banner years of the 1980s and early ’90s. Then, family therapy seemed to sizzle as new ideas abounded, as old paradigms were challenged and new ones asserted, and as collaborating with our clients was refined to previously unconsidered possibilities. Moving into the late 1990s and the first few years of the new millennium, however, some of the excitement seemed to abate. Family therapy’s postmodern pioneers—Steve deShazer, Michael White, and Harlene Anderson (to name a few of the key people)—helped “clear a space” for new ways of thinking and practicing, and established three approaches: solution-focused, narrative and collaborative language systems therapy (respectively). Within these approaches, creative practitioners are actively innovating, building on the premises of each. But, I still opined “aloud” in this journal recently (Strong, 2002) that we had only arrived at a postmodern frontier. So I thought I’d better follow up on this assertion and see what new might be happening “out there.” But, let’s back up a bit. What is postmodernism, and how did it come to feature in family therapy anyway? In an era that denounces “correct” meaning, answering such questions can vex those whose meanings are excluded. For many,