Change: Principles of Problem Formation and Problem Resolution Paperback – April 25, 2011

It seems an unfortunate reality that most therapies produce at best a management of client symptoms. This book provides a way of thinking about and creating change that will radically transform your client results.

It’s a great book but it could have had more concrete implementation recommendations on change at different logical levels-and more deconstruction of the existing examples.

Watzlawick was an exceptional Western intellectual with an in depth & eclectic knowledge bases that made all his book unique. This wide grasp of diverse concepts can be witness in Change: Problem Formation & Resolution, with his lengthy footnotes, always fascinating & often taking a third or more on a page by the selves. Basing problem formation on the mathematical reasoning from Set Theory, & Russell & Whiteheads Theory of Logical Typing, human hubris, wherein we substage needless suffering on our selves. His four category taxonomy on problem formation involved 1) when the attempted solution becomes the problem ["we first raise the dust, then claim we can not see"], 2) when a problem is over-simplified, making a problematic pseudo solution [terrible simplifications], 3) when the proposed solution depends a utopia state[while we pursue the unattainable, we make impossible the realizable], & 4) Concerns various double-binds, pathological paradoxes & impossible dilemmas [all Cretans are liars, Epimenides of Create, 3rd cen.].

I understand 1st and 2nd order change so much better now than I did previously.In only about 160 pages, the authors covered a lot of ground. The book is as relevant today as when written. The many examples are clear too.My remaining comments are in regard to the last chapter, The Wider Horizon.The authors were spot on about the shortcomings of using only 1st order changes. In addition to individual and smaller group uses, just a few examples of global level uses, such as wars on poverty and drugs, and so on, provide ample evidence of these shortcomings.Due to technological changes, such as the internet and smartphones, and due to uses people now make of these and other technological changes, such as YouTube and webinars, wider applications of the 2nd order change process seem possible to me far beyond what the authors imagined.

Although I have seen this book referenced many times and read several summaries of its main tenets, I have only recently had the opportunity to read the entire book. I wish now that this book was required reading in my graduate counseling program because it is simply fantastic.The authors start with an esoteric theory of groups, classes, games without end, etc., and then move into application through several interesting clinical examples. In short, the basic idea is that there are two approaches to change; the simplistic, commonsense approach, which often blows up in our faces, or a "second-order" type of change where the assumptions around the problem are questioned. The most serious difficulties we run into in life require second-order change, yet we often chase our tails trying to solve them with "commonsense" solutions that go nowhere. This book is a primer for approaching problems in new ways.It is also a must read for counselors and coaches.

This book was a required text for a course that I took for my MBA. It was an interesting read and very applicable even in today's business environment. I was able to apply ,Amy of the insights to things that are happening within my company and well as my personal life. The theoretical background in the first section was a but tough to follow but the exa,plea throughout the later sections were extremely helpful in understanding the underlying principles.

Written 34 years ago, "Change; Principles of Problem Formation and Problem Resolution" addresses the significant topic of Change in a manner as relevant, if not more so, than it was when the book was first published.This is not an easy book...it links the mathematical areas of Group Theory and Logical Types with different types of change...but it is well-worth the effort required to complete, understand and appreciate the book's messages.Terms such as "framing" and "reframing" are central to the ideas put forth in this book...these terms are frequently used today in leadership training and development courses. In an era where terms and buzzwords change frequently, I view the longevity of such terms as a testament to the lasting relevance of this book and its messages.I highly recommend this book to all readers. The book covers a topic...change...that intersects many areas of life. It is well worth a read.

Well, I don't know what happens in the field of psychology that people still don't recognize in a proper manner the incomensurable work this group of people have been doing (Watzlawick et al). First of all, for the didatic value of this book, secondly for the transforming insights that come trough reading it, and - but not least - for the kind of practic it ensues, I feel it is a book to be "discovered" yet, a book for the future of Psychology.

Worth the money for the first chapter alone which will change your way of thinking about problems. I went straight on to reading Pragmatics of human communication after this. Glad I did it that way round. Reading this helped me understand Bateson's ecology of mind even more deeply. A real bonus.

Aparte de que el libro ha llegado en excelentes condiciones y que conseguí con tremenda rebaja, he de afirmar que éste es un libro que no tuve la oportunidad de leer por completo en un curso de Terapia Familiar Sistémica, y ahora que lo tengo en mis manos, no puedo aguardar más para conocer las propuestas que Watzlawick y sus colegas proponen para la formulación y resolución de problemas a partir del modelo de terapia breve desarrollado en el MRI.Los tipos de cambio, la interrupción de secuencias y más, son contenidas en un breve pero bien desarrollado libro.

Good book. Useful to read how others deal with change.

Amazing book, the introduction a bit rough but after page 50 or 60, the examples of human behaviour and the solutions found are just amazing. Counterintuitive, contrarian and paradoxical logics that open your moth. Wow ! This is psicological technology applied in the 70's, I am surprised their techniques are not used more often nowadays. If you want to become more persuasive, change yourself and maybe change others, ... read this book.

Einfach großartig. Macht Freude am lesen und inspiriert. Zeigt nicht nur Verhaltensmuster auf sondern zeigt auch wie man sie sprengen kann.