Customer Reviews

The Use of Self in Therapy

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I ordered this book for reference material for a term paper but found it to be much more than that. The discussions of the trials, tribulations, pitfalls, and benefits of the use of self in therapeutic situations is well worth the read for any counselor or student pursuing a degree. The collection of works by different authors, each with their own unique perspective, brings home the questions of whether one should or can use the 'self' in working with others, as well as the understanding that in any therapeutic relationship the self is already present.

This book is a fairly good text book. It is broken down in a strategic sequence. It is fairly dry reading also, however. This is much more of a text book than a reference or for-pleasure-reading book.

Although Satir came highly recommended to me, by a friend who is a psychotherapist by profession, I find her books too much Art and not enough Science. So far, none of them has been worth my time or money. I have started reading this book several times, from the front to the back, from the back to the front, picking out interesting-sounding chapters in the middle, nothing helps. I am about 2/3 through it; and I think it will become the first book in decades that I have not been able to finish. Ultimately, I think that psychotherapy has made such huge scientific advances since Satir's time that these books of hers are outdated and merely of historical interest but not practical.

This book is full of information that is rarely covered in most graduate programs, yet it is the person of the therapist that is "the instrument" in counseling. From a variety of perspectives, this book explores how to develop the use of your self as a therapist. The greatest depth is found in Kramer's chapter, but there are many gems, and few weaknesses. It includes a timely update of use of self in an increasingly multicultural field.