Rural Review
Zoi, C., & Fogarty, P. (1992)
Think Like a Shrink
New York: Warner Books, Inc., 295 pp., $18.95
To begin on a rare negative note, the title of this book is too much like
a Readers Digest article of the genre "Repair Your Own Car, Save Hundreds,
Maybe Thousands." In fact, the book does have at least a partial purpose
of helping people deal with their own problems but, more importantly, Dr.
Christ Zoi provides a well written case for the use of short term psychotherapy
as modality of choice, not just for crisis intervention or as a second best
alternative for traditional long term therapy, or as scaled-down long term
therapy. The key characteristics he stresses are a limited number of sessions
(perhaps a maximum of 16-20) dropping traditional passive role of traditional
psychotherapy for a more active role in which the therapist confronts and
challenges the client to move towards greater clarity and specificity ("What
do you mean, you think you feel anger? Either you did or you did not.")
Dr. Zoi does not believe in supporting the client's defenses, but rather
in forcing the client to examine them to understand what he is defending
and hiding. Is short term psychotherapy for everybody? No, says Dr. Zoi,
it is not for psychotics, really sick people who require medication and/or
hospitalization. But in healing neurotics, Dr. Zoi says it is only a myth
that long term problems require long term treatment. (Does a surgeon say
to a patient, "Since this tumor took 12-16 years to develop, we will
need at least 12 years to treat it?). The therapist does not give advice,
but does force the client towards understanding and clarifying his/her own
decision making.
The first session is for the purpose of assessment/evaluation of the client's problem or problems and for setting the number of sessions. Dr. Zoi does not use the term, but I would call this the contract between client and therapist.
Dr. Zoi carefully lays a groundwork for the advantages of short term
psychotherapy, then provides examples from taped interviews to demonstrate
precisely how the approach is translated into specific techniques, along
with the explanatory notes. The notion of the value of short term psychotherapy
should have special relevance in community psychology, most especially in
rural community psychology where resources and time are both in short supply.
It is ironic in a way that Dr. Zoi, writing in New York City, the most urban
of all places, where he teaches psychiatry, has provided a program with
particular promise for rural communities. But, perhaps, we in rural community
psychology can give something back to the urban world sometime, even beyond
appreciation of the sense of community unique to rural areas. In recent
years, there has developed a trend to identify this sense of community in
urban neighborhoods or sections as well.
Thomas M. Brigham, Professor Emeritus and Former Dean of School
of Social Work, California State University, Fresno, CA.
Original Journal Page 53.