In this important new book, Godfrey Barrett-Lennard challenges the individualist focus of traditionalist psychology by proposing that the human condition is basically relational and interdependent. Rich in depth and scope, The Relationship Paradigm explores relationship systems over an absorbing vista of multiple connections. This includes relations within the self, interpersonal relationships, relationships between and within communities, organizations and nations, and relationships with animals. There is a chapter on relations in war. The result is a sophisticated account of the complex weave of human relationships, providing counselors and other professionals who work with people with a foundation of thought that will offer fresh insights both for practice and the search for new knowledge.Combining new ideas with practice principles and illustrations, this is a book of rare value for students, practitioners and research enquirers.

PART I: HUMAN RELATIONSHIP: NATURE AND DOMAIN 1. The Idea and Variety of Human Relationships 2. Intricate Relations within the Person-organism 3. The Diverse Self in and from Relationship PART II: HUMAN DISTRESS AND THE WORKING OF SYSTEMS 4. Psychopathology or Disturbed Relationship? On Suffering, Disorder and Being Well 5. How Does Influence Work in Complex Relational Systems? PART III: UNFOLDING THE WORLDS OF RELATIONSHIP 6. Distinguishing Kinds of Relationship: An Ordering Scheme 7. Community as Relationship and Vicissitudes of Belonging 8. Large Organisations as Systemic World of Relationship 9. Relationships in, of and After War and Genocide 10. The Shared World of Human-animal Relations PART IV: RESEARCH AND THE NEW PARADIGM 11. Researching Relationships: From the Plural Self to Big Systems 12. Summing Up: The New Paradigm as a Way Forward.