num_pages: 248
description: During the last decade, as public awareness of the role of therapy has increased, so too has the 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 councellors 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 critiques, Spinelli demystifies therapists' language and theories. He argues that the 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 naïveté of many therapists - their unnecessary and artificial reliance on 'techniques' and their abuse of the power bestowed on them in the therapeutic relationship. ... this is a brilliant book, which I unreservedly recommend to anyone in the  counselling field... It will most surely provoke fertile, enlightening and  constructive engagement within our profession with years to come. Richard House, CounsellingProfessor Ernesto Spinelli, PhD is a fellow of both the British Psychological Society (BPS) and the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) as well as a UKCP registered existential psychotherapist. In 1999 he was awarded a Personal Chair as Professor of Psychotherapy, Counselling and Counselling Psychology. His authorship of numerous specialist articles and several highly respected and widely read books dealing with the theory and practice of existential psychotherapy has earned for Ernesto a BPS Counselling Psychology Division Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Advancement of the Profession as well as an international reputation as a leading figure in the advancement of contemporary existential psychotherapy.
language: English
title: Demystifying Therapy
titlecomplete: Demystifying Therapy
genres: Counselling, Psychology
ratings_count: 36
publisher: PCCS Books