1. Personal Authority in the Family System: An Overview

2. Background Theoretical Assumptions

3. Personal Authority: The Construct in Theoretical Context

II. Personal Authority Method: The Play's the Thing

4. Setting the Scene: Playful Interventions as a Method of Therapy

5. Auditioning and Casting: Background Preparations for the Conversations with Parents

6. Black Out Sketches: The Group at Play

7. The Rehearsal: Preparing the Client for Political Renegotiations with Parents

8. Scheduling the Performance and Contract Negotiating with the Players

9. Writing the Script: The In-Office Agenda for the Primary Triangle—

Part 1. The Parents Speak

10. Writing the Script: The In-Office Agenda for the Primary Triangle—

Part 2. The Client Responds and the Consultant Reflects

11. Performing Outdoors: New Life at the Graveyard—Renegotiation with a Deceased Former Parent

12. Production Problems: Limitations to the Method

III. Personal Authority Contextual Issues

13. Personal Authority: The Personal Story

14. Personal and Professional Authority in Professional Life

15. Personal Authority, Professional Authority, and Physical Health

16. Personal Authority and Gender Differences: Typecasting, Linda M. Walsh

17. Beyond Personal Authority

IV. Personal Authority Research

18. The Personal Authority in the Family System Questionnaire: Assessment of Intergenerational Family Relationships, James H. Bray