The Bitter Approach
Personal. Engaging. Application-focused. Highly readable. That’s what initial reviewers have said about the Bitter approach – and we hope you’ll agree. Please access the links at left to read the Preface, review the TOC and participate in our Class Test. We are happy to share this text with you.
Theory and Practice of Family Therapy and Counseling:
- Embraces multiple perspectives and provides a comprehensive discussion of contemporary family theories and practices including human validation process and symbolic-experiential models.
- Encourages students’ personal growth and development
as family therapists with a warm, inviting writing style and numerous self-reflection
and active-learning exercises.
- Enhances learning through consistent chapter organization and the use of a single case, the Quest family, throughout. This enables students to compare and contrast the various models and see how different approaches can be used in an integrated way.
About the Author
James Robert (Jim) Bitter is Professor of Counseling in the Department of Human Development and Learning at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tennessee. He is a nationally certified counselor and family therapist, and a former officer of the North American Society of Adlerian Psychology (NASAP). He is also a former editor of the Journal of Individual Psychology and a Diplomate in Adlerian Psychology. He is on the editorial board of The Family Journal, and has served in the past in a similar role on the Journal of Counseling and Development. He received his doctorate in Counselor Education from Idaho State University in Pocatello, Idaho.
Jim received awards for Outstanding Teaching in the College of Human Development and Community Service at California State University at Fullerton, and for Outstanding Scholarship in the Clemmer College of Education at East Tennessee State University. He has taught in the graduate Counseling programs of three different universities, has co-authored two books, and has published more than 50 articles.
Together with Oscar Christensen, Bill Nicoll, and Clair Hawes, Jim is a co-founder and core faculty member of the Adlerian Training Institute (ATI) in Boca Raton, Florida. He has contributed to the development of Adlerian Brief Therapy with individuals and families. He is the featured expert for the Adlerian Family Therapy (Bitter, 1998) in the Allyn and Bacon series Family Therapy with the Experts, and he has offered workshops in Canada, England, Greece, Ireland, Korea, New Zealand, and Peru as well as throughout the United States. He was introduced to Adlerian Family Therapy and Counseling by Manford A. Sonstegard, with whom Jim has worked for more than thirty years.
Jim studied and worked for ten years with one of family therapy’s pioneers, Virginia Satir. He was a trainer in her Process Communities for three of those years, published an article and a number of chapters with her before her death in 1989. He is a past-President of AVANTA, Satir’s training network.
Jim currently sees couples and families together with graduate students at East Tennessee State University’s Community Counseling Clinic. Together with his ATI colleagues, he continues to develop Adlerian Brief Therapy with individuals, groups, couples and families. His focus on a fully present relationship in all forms of therapy is an integration of Adlerian counseling with the work of Virginia Satir and Erv and Miriam Polster.
Jim has been married to Lynn Williams for almost a quarter of a century; they have two daughters, Alison and Nora Williams. In his leisure time, Jim likes to travel, collect stamps, play basketball, and read.
