ABSTRACT
The directives described in the previous chapters are able to bring the depressed client into contact with his or her depressogenic values, beliefs, and behaviors. Much of the therapeutic work can be done internally by the client as one self-limiting pattern is interrupted and replaced by another pattern that is more adaptive. Focusing exclusively on the internal world of the client, however, is inevitably an incomplete intervention, since the individual does not live entirely within him- or herself. Rather, the individual lives in a world that includes other people — lots of other people. One of the primary dimensions of experience described in Chapter 3 is the relational one, emphasizing the interpersonal aspects of an individual's life. The relational dimension encompasses the larger social system of which one is a part, and includes all of the people one interacts with, however occasional or distant in quality the relationship. Of course, the more significant relationships receive greater emphasis in intervening on this dimension, with special attention paid to the individual's relationship patterns relative to a spouse, children, parents, close friends, colleagues, employers, and others who are important in his or her life.
