Inside Therapy: Illuminating Writings About Therapists, Patients, and Psychotherapy [Hardcover]

Ilana Rabinowitz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 1998

A scintillating collection of writings on the mysterious, controversial, and intimateprocess of psychotherapy.Everyone with an interest in the art and science of psychotherapy - practitioners, patients, students, and avid readers of Freud, Jung, et al-will find this lively anthology an engrossing read. A varied mix of essays, book chapters, case histories, and compelling fiction written by veterans of both sides of "the couch" and representing many schools of thought, Inside Therapy includes:Janet Malcolm`s The Impossible Profession * Mark Epstein`s Thoughts Without a Thinker * Eric Fromm`s The Art of Listening * A. M. Homes`s In a Country of Mothers * Theodore Reik`s The Third Ear * and others. The foreword by Irvin D. Yalom, author of Love`s Executioner, offers additional wisdom, humor, and perspective. At a time when managed care threatens the psychoanalytic tradition, this dramatic, inspiring collection reminds us of the healing power of insight and the unique gifts of the patient-therapist relationship.AUTHORBIO: ILANA RABINOWITZ is also the editor of Mountains Are Mountains and Rivers Are Rivers: Applying Eastern Teachings in Everyday Life. She lives in New York City. IRVIN D. YALOM`s most recent book is Momma and the Meaning of Life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Those who have been involved in or are contemplating psychotherapy will find this eclectic anthology of writings about the process instructive. Rabinowitz, who reports on psychiatry for the Philadelphia Inquirer, presents excerpts from the published works of pioneers in the field, such as Theodore Reik's Listening with the Third Ear and Robert Lindner's The Fifty-Minute Hour. The overriding emphasis of these practitioners, who regard their calling as an art rather than a science, is on attentive, nonjudgmental listening, a skill that Mark Epstein ("Bare Attention") relates to Buddhist philosophy. Yalom (Love's Executioner) posits in his foreword that a doctor should devise a therapy for each patient based on a healing relationship that the two create together. Along with the informative case studies provided by therapists that explain the role of transference in the healing process are several excerpts from novels dealing with psychotherapy. Included is a selection by Rafael Yglesias (Dr. Neruda's Cure for Evil) that describes what can happen when a therapist leads rather than listens. Agent, Alex Hoyt.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Freud's legacy lives on in this diverse collection of essays, excerpts, and fiction on key issues in psychotherapy. Rabinowitz, who reports on developments in psychiatry for the Philadelphia Inquirer, presents here the work of masters and modern writers whose concerns range from theoretical questions about the process and nature of psychotherapy to more practical ones, such as what happens during a session and how to make it more productive. A brief summary introduces each chapter, which makes the book easy to skim. Fascinating tidbits abound, including rich case studies, musings on the relationship between Eastern mysticism and psychotherapy, and a listing of personal qualities that good therapists should possess. Scientific validation of such claims is not provided. Psychoanalysis is threatened today by managed care and biological psychiatry, but this book is hopeful, informative, lively and suited to practitioners, students, and consumers. Recommended for large public libraries and academic collections.?Antoinette Brinkman, Southwest Indiana Mental Health Ctr. Lib., Evansville
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 291 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (June 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312186711
• ISBN-13: 978-0312186715
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #175,438 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Introduction to the Power of Psychotherapy, August 19, 2003

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M. Stein (NY, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Inside Therapy: Illuminating Writings About Therapists, Patients, and Psychotherapy (Paperback)

What can I add to the praise listed below? This book really is as good as they say. Superbly chosen excerpts that are well written and provide a thoughtful, amazing window into the inner workings (and chaos) of the patient's and therapist's minds--and how their relationship can bring healing and tremendous insight into our lives.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Self-congratulatory trifle fills these pages, March 21, 2007

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teriksen "teriksen" (Lansing, MI USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Inside Therapy: Illuminating Writings About Therapists, Patients, and Psychotherapy (Paperback)

Never before have I read such a series of offensive arrogance about psychotherapy. How nice for these psychologists and psychiatrists to receive cases in which they have no need to truly care about their client or their client's emotional pain but instead be able to know what is best for their client, be incredibly insightful and heal their client with their "wisdom." (All neatly summed up in an essay or excerpt with a Happily Ever After Ending.)

The most offensive essay (and believe me, it was hard to pick just one. Leston Havens' "Freud's Invention" was runner up. "Therapy even changes your appearance!") was Herbert S. Strean's "Sometimes I Feel Like A Dirty Old Man: The Woman Who Tried to Seduce Me." Strean repeatedly pats himself on the back about how well-analyzed he is and how this woman's tricks will never work with him! I read it with borderline nausea--realizing that this man in no way had any sort of connection with the woman in the room, he was too busy ruminating on how SHE affected him. Her pain, his effect on her, was a horrible pathology, but his pathologies (self-centered arrogance, narcissism)had no effect on him or her because he (allegedly) knew about them! If this woman actually did experience healing it was very probably in spite of her analyst, not because of him.

This is an outdated and frustrating overview of psychology, and of the therapist/client relationship. Basically the editor has collected every client's worst fear about therapy. According to this collection the client is not a person to be cared about with a unique set of hopes and fears and histories. NO, each client is a "hysteric", a "borderline", a "neurotic". Each client is fraught and ready and ripe for transference, each pathology pursued with bloodhound zeal and little realization that most people who are seeking help, do in fact just want to get better. The collection copyright is 1998 and I feel that might be a typo of about 40 years because Freud's stench rises from each page like fresh fish left on the counter overnight.

The three exceptions in the book are Irvin Yalom's prologue, the excerpt from his novel "Nietzsche Wept" and his excerpt from "Love's Executioner." Yalom's caring for his clients, his appreciation of their uniqueness, shines through every word of his prose and he is a good enough writer that his work is quite accessible to even non-readers. Yalom is the only reason I gave this book two stars.

I would suggest you buy any of Yalom's works or "In Session" by Deborah Lott instead of this. Reading "Inside Therapy" might make you crazy.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Contrary to some other reviews, May 9, 2007

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C. Adams "Leafy Fro" (NC, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Inside Therapy: Illuminating Writings About Therapists, Patients, and Psychotherapy (Paperback)

I found this book to be enlightening and enjoyable. The reader is allowed a rare insight into the psychotherapist's feelings and personal struggles when dealing with patients. In addition, it makes an obvious point to the reader that psychotherapists are human. Although some of the excerpts do border on arrogant, I would still recommend this book to anyone who is considering going into the field of psychotherapy.