Ladislav Valach

A young woman is abandoned by her boyfriend, an older man retires and feels worthless and lonely, a young man learns that his wife is having an extramarital affair. They all see suicide as the only solution. Usually, after a suicide attempt, people are treated in a hospital, where professionals try to work out the underlying psychiatric illness. Ladislav Valach and Annette Reissfelder, however, argue that suicide is not an illness but an action. Since this understanding is based on a high regard for everyday accounts of one's own experiences, the suicidal persons are given the stage in this book. The textbook presents twelve different cases after a suicide attempt. In the analysis of the conversations, attention is paid to the theory of action in everyday life. By presenting the long-term, medium-term and short-term concerns of the patients or the actions in the stories, practitioners gain a detailed insight into the underlying causes of the suicidal act and its treatment.

Eine junge Frau wird von ihrem Freund verlassen, ein älterer Mann wird pensioniert und fühlt sich wertlos und einsam, ein junger Mann erfährt, dass seine Frau eine außereheliche Beziehung pflegt. Sie alle sehen nur noch den Suizid als Lösung. Üblicherweise werden Personen nach einem Suizidversuch in einem Krankenhaus behandelt, wo Fachpersonen versuchen, die zugrunde liegende psychiatrische Erkrankung herauszuarbeiten. Ladislav Valach und Annette Reissfelder argumentieren jedoch, dass Suizid nicht eine Krankheit, sondern eine Handlung ist. Da diesem Verständnis die Hochschätzung alltäglicher Darstellungen eigener Erlebnisse zugrunde liegt, wird in diesem Buch den suizidalen Personen die Bühne freigegeben. Das Fachbuch stellt zwölf verschiedene Fälle nach einem Suizidversuch vor. Bei der Analyse der Gespräche wird auf die Handlungstheorie des Alltags geachtet. Durch die Darstellung der langfristigen, mittel- und kurzfristigen Anliegen der Patient*innen bzw. den Handlungen in den Geschichten, erhalten Praktizierende einen detaillierten Einblick in die der Suizidhandlung zugrunde liegenden Ursachen und deren Behandlung.

Urs Kalbermatten und Ladislav Valach übertragen Handlungstheorie erfolgreich auf angewandte Forschung und verschiedene Praxisfelder in Gerontologie, Paarbeziehungen im Alter, Lebensübergänge, Beratung, Psychotherapie, Prävention und Rehabilitation. Sie belegen mit ihrer vierzigjährigen Weiterentwicklung handlungstheoretischerKonzepte und Modelle, wie diese eine bessere Konzeptualisierung von Praxisfeldern, eine wirkungsvolle praktische Tätigkeit und auch eine evidenzbasierte, theoriegestützte Intervention ermöglicht.

The transition to adulthood involves, for most individuals, moving from school to work, establishment of long-term relationships, possibly parenting, and a number of other psychosocial transformations. Now more than ever, there is a concern within popular and research literature about children growing up too soon or too late or failing to realize changes associated with being adult. With this in mind, the book intends to answer a series of timely questions in regard to transition to adulthood and propose a wholly new approach to counseling that enables youth to engage fully in their lives and achieve their best. Active Transition to Adulthood: A New Approach for Counseling will discuss the authors’ work on the transition to adulthood (including early and late adolescence) from an entirely innovative perspective – action theory. Over a period of 10-15 years the authors have collected substantial data on adolescents and youth in transition, and will present an approach to counseling based on these data and cases. The action theory perspective in which the authors have grounded their work addresses the intentional, goal-directed behavior of persons and groups that is expressed through particular actions, longer-term projects, and life-encompassing careers. In this book, both transition to adulthood and counseling will be covered in the language of goal-directed action. In this way both transition and counseling reflect and capture the action, projects, and careers in which families, youth, and clients are engaged and use to construct on-going identity and other narratives.

The transition to adulthood involves, for most individuals, moving from school to work, establishment of long-term relationships, possibly parenting, and a number of other psychosocial transformations. Now more than ever, there is a concern within popular and research literature about children growing up too soon or too late or failing to realize changes associated with being adult. With this in mind, the book intends to answer a series of timely questions in regard to transition to adulthood and propose a wholly new approach to counseling that enables youth to engage fully in their lives and achieve their best. Active Transition to Adulthood: A New Approach for Counseling will discuss the authors’ work on the transition to adulthood (including early and late adolescence) from an entirely innovative perspective – action theory. Over a period of 10-15 years the authors have collected substantial data on adolescents and youth in transition, and will present an approach to counseling based on these data and cases. The action theory perspective in which the authors have grounded their work addresses the intentional, goal-directed behavior of persons and groups that is expressed through particular actions, longer-term projects, and life-encompassing careers. In this book, both transition to adulthood and counseling will be covered in the language of goal-directed action. In this way both transition and counseling reflect and capture the action, projects, and careers in which families, youth, and clients are engaged and use to construct on-going identity and other narratives.

The authors describe a view that our short-, medium-, and long- term behavior, interactions, and relationships—whether planned or spontaneous, purposeful or playful—can be understood in terms of goal-directed systems. An understanding of action theory and research methods used in applied settings is provided. It leads to the conclusion that individual processes are joint processes and the joint construction of lives should be monitored to understand ongoing personal and social involvements. The unique contribution of this book lies in its bringing together and extending of basic features of the theory of goal-directed action systems previously published in a range of scattered research and conceptual articles in the literature. Professionals including clinicians, counselors, social workers, researchers, doctors, nurses, and physical or occupational therapists will find in this book an accessible means to understand, act on, research, and intervene in the behavioral processes they encounter in everyday work.