Contributed by Cloe Madanes

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The Playful Therapist

Magazine Article

May 22, 2022

The Playful Therapist

7 Clinicians Share Their Best Strategies

Frank Pittman, Cloe Madanes, Steve Andreas, Ron Taffel, Courtney Armstrong, Lynn Lyons, and Kirsten Lind Seal

In this collection, master therapists share how they’ve used humor in ways that both enliven and enrich the work of therapy. Read More
The Silver Lining in Failure

Online Story

January 4, 2018

The Silver Lining in Failure

Not Every Teachable Moment Has to Be a Successful One

Cloe Madanes

The problem with a failure is that one doesn't really understand why one failed. If one did, it wouldn't have been a failure. But I'm not giving up on my toughest client, Bob. There's one strategy I still haven't used. Read More
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Magazine Article

March 1, 2015

Cloe Madanes on Advocating for the Most Vulnerable

Cloe Madanes

Let’s unite to stand up to vested interests that have taken over the mental health system. Read More
A marionette

Magazine Article

March 7, 2014

Soft Shock Therapy

The Art of Speaking the Unspeakable

Cloe Madanes

Using humor to help clients reconstruct their problems, even to the point of making parodies of their own dilemmas, can help some them get distance from their woes, learn to take themselves less seriously, and perhaps even gain a bit of wisdom. Read More
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Magazine Article

November 5, 2013

The 14 Habits of Highly Miserable People

How to Succeed at Self-Sabotage

Cloe Madanes

Making yourself profoundly unhappy takes tenacity and creativity. But the real art of it is to behave in ways that allow you to claim yourself to be an innocent victim, ideally of the very people from whom you’re forcibly extracting compassion and pity. Read More
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Magazine Article

November 1, 2000

The Godfather Strategy

Finding the Offer a Client Can't Refuse

Cloe Madanes

After 20 years of teaching therapy, but not doing it myself, I decided I needed a lesson in humility. What better way to experience humility than to be a therapist? So I started a small practice that basically consisted of taking on the cases that, for a variety of reasons, other therapists couldn't handle: sexual violence, heartbreaking drama, money problems, celebrities. And I was quite successful, to the point that the lesson in humility was escaping me. Until I met Bob. Read More

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Cloe Madanes

Cloe Madanes is one of the originators of the strategic approach to family therapy. She's authored seven books that are classics in the field: Strategic Family Therapy; Behind the One-Way Mirror; Sex, Love, and Violence; The Secret Meaning of Money; The Violence of Men; The Therapist as Humanist, Social Activist, and Systemic Thinker; and Relationship Breakthrough.