Demystifying Therapy [Paperback]

Ernesto Spinelli (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 5, 2006

Originally published by Constable in 1994, PCCS Books is delighted to be re-issuing this still popular and very well-received book. During the last decade, as public awareness of the role of therapy has increased, so too has criticism of specific approaches to therapeutic practice. In this book, Dr Spinelli examines the assumptions of his profession. He argues that in seeking to cure, heal, educate, free and change the client, in seeking to promote 'mental health', psychotherapists and counsellors not only end up abusing their clients and themselves but they also succeed in setting themselves impossible tasks and goals which actually impede the therapeutic process. Through his critique, Spinelli demystifies therapists' language and theories. He argues that key areas of the client-therapist relationship have been neglected and, using case material from his own practice, explores in full the way in which therapists should engage with and listen to their clients in order to be of help. Over the years, Spinelli has become increasingly aware of the philosophical naivete of many therapists - their unnecessary and artificial reliance on 'techniques' and their abuse of the power bestowed on them in the therapeutic relationship.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Dr Spinelli has written an extremely thought-provoking and enlightening analysis of the dangers inherent in most of the current therapies. His primary concern is the potential that exists for client abuse, not just sexual or emotional maltreatment but, more importantly, misuse of the power a therapist has within the therapeutic encounter. Spinelli eruditely - elaborates on the importance of the therapeutic relationship and how working within a descriptively focused encounter can help ensure that interpretations are made within the client's own experience and not imposed from outside. Alison Strasser, Psychotherapy in Australia [Ernesto Spinelli's] argument is that theory-led approaches - tend to reinforce the mystique of therapy and increase the likelihood of therapists misusing their power and of - clients having a negative experience of therapy. As an alternative, he puts forward and existential-phenomenological model of therapy, which requires that the therpist attempts to bracket out his or her biases, assumptions, and so on - and try to enter the patient's own meaning world in order to enhance their self-clarification, challenging the person, as it were, from within. D S J Ticktin, Newsletter of the GP Psychotherapy Association of Ontario.

About the Author

Dr Ernesto Spinelli is a UKCP registered psychotherapist, BACP accredited counsellor and Chartered Counselling Psychologist. He was Principal Lecturer at the School of Psychotherapy and Counselling, Regent's College, London until 2009.

Product Details

• Paperback: 248 pages
• Publisher: PCCS Books (October 5, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1898059896
• ISBN-13: 978-1898059899
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,750,640 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)