An increasing number of people are engaging in therapy. As a consequence there is a growing debate about the benefits of therapy and its place in global society. In this exciting and engaging new text Peter Morrall argues that therapy should be treated with healthy scepticism and provides a compelling, contemporary, and controversial argument as to how we should construct a sceptical view. In an engaging style akin to authors such as Oliver Burkeman, Stan Ferudi and Alain de Botton, the author offers a sociology of psychotherapy as well as placing sociology in therapy. The author explores the links between therapy and science, therapy and power, therapy and reality, madness and normality, and personal misery and the values of global society. The author asks questions about therapy and the "therapy culture" of the modern day. Is therapy dysfunctional, arrogant, selfish, abusive, infectious, insane and deceitful? The author illustrates different aspects of therapy using a troubled character called Heather, who undergoes therapy and features in vignettes throughout the book. This innovative, engaging, and compelling analysis of therapy is a wake-up call about therapy. It is essential reading for anyone interested in psychotherapy, counselling, sociology or the human condition.
John McLeod’s bestseller provides a comprehensive, research-informed overview of the theory and practice of counselling and psychotherapy. This new edition has been expanded to cover emerging aspects of contemporary practice, such as debates around neuroscience and integration; third-wave cognitive–behavioural therapies such as ACT, mindfulness and FAP; the experience of being a client; motivational interviewing; interpersonal psychotherapy; social dimensions of therapy; leaving therapy; gender and sexuality; spirituality; and key counselling and therapeutic skills and techniques. This sixth edition has been fully updated and revised throughout and is separated into a four-part structure for easy navigation. Each chapter also enhances learning with the following resources: • Case studies • Landmark and contemporary research studies • Topics for reflection and discussion • Suggested further reading An Introduction to Counselling and Psychotherapy has been the book of choice for students and tutors on introductory courses for over 25 years. “Professor John McLeod’s Introduction to Counselling and Psychotherapy is a classic text. In providing a comprehensive perspective on the field, it goes well beyond being a mere ‘introduction’. Not only does it deliver an encyclopaedic amount of information, but it also presents this information in an incredibly captivating manner. There is simply no other book on the topic to match it. This new edition, truly faithful to its predecessors, maps new innovations in the context of previous generations’ viewpoints. This is ‘the’ book on counselling and psychotherapy.” Ladislav Timulak, PhD, Course Director, Doctorate in Counselling Psychology, Trinity College Dublin “John McLeod has a talent for bringing readers into intimate contact with the experience of another person's experience. Through his evocative descriptions, accessible language, and plentiful examples you will find yourself looking through the eyes of both clients and therapists and developing a depth of understanding about important processes in psychotherapy. His position at the vanguard of psychotherapy research allows him to bring to life the practice of psychotherapy while posing research questions and stimulating curiosity about findings. His valuing of varied approaches to psychotherapy invites the reader to connect with diverse perspectives and consider their own beliefs.” Heidi M. Levitt, PhD, University of Massachusetts Boston, USA
"For anyone in a caring, facilitative or managing role, Counselling Skills provides a uniquely comprehensive, accessible and practical guide to interpersonal helping. It introduces a way of working that is both focused and personalised: tailored to an individual client's specific goals and preferences. The book will be invaluable to anyone who wants to help others deal with their problems." Mick Cooper, University of Strathclyde, UK "Not everyone possesses the skills required to ensure that professional communication is compassionate and supportive, but the skills can be learned and this book on Counselling Skills provides just the resource needed. Its authors have the experience as practitioners and teachers to imbue the text with wisdom derived from life, academia and counselling. The book is carefully crafted and beautifully written; it includes exercises and examples that enhance learning; it is comprehensive and completely relevant for anyone who seeks to use counselling skills competently in their work." Professor Sue Wheeler, University of Leicester, UK "The book offers a sound and accessible introduction for anyone considering formal counselling skills training ... As a bereavement counsellor I will gladly keep a place for this book on my bookshelf, as it offers a useful refresher in basic skills. I would certainly recommend it to colleagues within pastoral caring roles and other caring professions." Sally Smith, Counselling Psychology student at The University of Wolverhampton, UK This bestselling book is designed to help counselling trainees acquire and develop the skills and techniques needed to have therapeutic impact with their clients. It also provides those in the helping professions with an easy-to-follow model of 'embedded counselling' that provides tools and strategies for offering counselling relationships within a diversity of work settings. The new edition is thoroughly revised and features nine new chapters, addressing such topics as: an A-Z of practical counselling skills, dealing with difficult relationships, issues caused by cultural diversity or life transitions, and issues in loss and bereavement. The book also covers: Key counselling skills such as caring, listening, questioning and reframing, reflection, attunement to a client, challenging and giving advice Building a counselling relationship Developing understanding of clients' issues Resolving difficult feelings and emotions Ethical principles of counselling practice Working together to change behaviour Counselling Skills, 2nd edition is packed with exercises and information on recent studies, to help readers relate theory to their own practice. Written in an accessible, engaging style, with numerous case examples, this book is suitable for students taking courses or modules in counselling skills, counsellors in training, and any professionals who may provide counselling support within their roles, including teachers, doctors, community workers, social workers and nurses.
Completely updated, the most widely used and critically acclaimed text on multicultural counseling, Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice, Fifth Edition offers students and professionals essential and thought-provoking material on the theory, research, and practice of multicultural counseling. Authors Derald Wing Sue and David Sue—pioneers in this field—define and analyze the meaning of diversity and multiculturalism and include coverage of racial/ethnic minority groups as well as multiracial individuals, women, gays and lesbians, the elderly, and those with disabilities. The Fifth Edition of this classic resource introduces new research and concepts, discusses future directions in the field, and includes updated references. New and important highlights include: Opening personal narratives in Chapter 1 that present poignant journeys in cultural competence Cutting-edge material related to the most recent research, theoretical formulations, and practice implications Discussion of unconscious and subtle manifestations of racial, gender, and sexual orientation bias and discriminationknown as microaggressions Coverage of social justice counseling Content on minority group therapists Attention to counseling and special circumstances involving racial/ethnic populations With its unique conceptual framework for multicultural therapy, Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice, Fifth Edition remains the best source of real-world counseling preparation for students as well as the most enlightened, influential guide for professionals.
What do clients look for in psychotherapy? Do clients and therapists have the same objectives? Is the outcome what the client or therapist hoped for? This is an essential book for all those who have wondered what the purpose of psychological therapy is, the procedures that are involved and the results that are achieved. The authors are experienced psychotherapists who share their personal experiences of the therapeutic process and question these in the light of relevant research. Practitioners are interested in linking the objectives and outcomes of therapeutic engagement. This book provides a critical assessment of how these links can be used creatively to enhance the effectiveness of their practice, in a variety of settings and contexts. Taking the form of discourse between the authors, the book is accessible to all levels of knowledge and practice. It is enlivened with dialogue, case studies and a mini-research project that was carried out with fellow practitioners in a series of workshops. Objectives and Outcomes gives practitioners an overview of current knowledge on these important topics and suggests forms of research that therapists might use in their own work.
How do we understand mental health problems in their social context? A former BMA Medical Book of the Year award winner, this book provides a sociological analysis of major areas of mental health and illness. The book considers contemporary and historical aspects of sociology, social psychiatry, policy and therapeutic law to help students develop an in-depth and critical approach to this complex subject.New developments for the fifth edition include: Brand new chapter on prisons, criminal justice and mental health Expanded coverage of stigma, class and social networks Updated material on the Mental Capacity Act, Mental Health Act and the Deprivation of Liberty A classic in its field, this well established textbook offers a rich and well-crafted overview of mental health and illness unrivalled by competitors and is essential reading for students and professionals studying a range of medical sociology and health-related courses. It is also highly suitable for trainee mental health workers in the fields of social work, nursing, clinical psychology and psychiatry. "Rogers and Pilgrim go from strength to strength! This fifth edition of their classic text is not only a sociology but also a psychology, a philosophy, a history and a polity. It combines rigorous scholarship with radical argument to produce incisive perspectives on the major contemporary questions concerning mental health and illness. The authors admirably balance judicious presentation of the range of available understandings with clear articulation of their own positions on key issues. This book is essential reading for everyone involved in mental health work." Christopher Dowrick, Professor of Primary Medical Care, University of Liverpool, UK "Pilgrim and Rogers have for the last twenty years given us the key text in the sociology of mental health and illness. Each edition has captured the multi-layered and ever changing landscape of theory and practice around psychiatry and mental health, providing an essential tool for teachers and researchers, and much loved by students for the dexterity in combining scope and accessibility. This latest volume, with its focus on community mental health, user movements criminal justice and the need for inter-agency working, alongside the more classical sociological critiques around social theories and social inequalities, demonstrates more than ever that sociological perspectives are crucial in the understanding and explanation of mental and emotional healthcare and practice, hence its audience extends across the related disciplines to everyone who is involved in this highly controversial and socially relevant arena." Gillian Bendelow, School of Law Politics and Sociology, University of Sussex, UK "From the classic bedrock studies to contemporary sociological perspectives on the current controversy over which scientific organizations will define diagnosis, Rogers and Pilgrim provide a comprehensive, readable and elegant overview of how social factors shape the onset and response to mental health and mental illness. Their sociological vision embraces historical, professional and socio-cultural context and processes as they shape the lives of those in the community and those who provide care; the organizations mandated to deliver services and those that have ended up becoming unsuitable substitutes; and the successful and unsuccessful efforts to improve the lives through science, challenge and law." Bernice Pescosolido, Distinguished Professor of Sociology, Indiana University, USA
Generally these enthusiastic - and perhaps ill-trained - therapists are themselves convinced of the healing powers of an array of techniques, some dating back far into time, that range from hilarious to hazardous.
An examination of the Western world’s contemporary fascination with psychological life, and the historical developments that fostered it. In this book, sociologist Katie Wright traces the ascendancy of therapeutic culture, from nineteenth-century concerns about nervousness, to the growth of psychology, the diffusion of an analytic attitude, and the spread of therapy and counseling, using Australia as a focal point. Wright’s analysis, which draws on social theory, cultural history, and interviews with therapists and people in therapy, calls into question the pessimism that pervades many accounts of the therapeutic turn and provides an alternative assessment of its ramifications for social, political, and personal life in the globalized West. Special Commendation, TASA Raewyn Connell Prize
This unique collection by leading authors explores the links between therapy and the political world, and their contribution to each other. Topics covered include: Psychotherapy in the political sphere, including the roots of conflict, social trauma, and ecopsychology Political dimensions of psychotherapy practice, such as discrimination, power, sexuality, and postcolonial issues Psychotherapy, the state and institutions, including the law and ethics, and psychotherapy in healthcare Working at the interface, examples of therapy in political action from Croatia, the USA, the UK and Israel/Palestine How to ‘place’ political issues in therapy is highly controversial – for example, whether political themes should be interpreted psychologically in the consulting room, or respected as valid in their own right: similar issues arise for the role of therapeutic insights in political reality. This book provides a map through these complex and demanding areas for therapists and counsellors in training, as well as for experienced practitioners or other interested readers. Contributors: Lane Arye, Arlene Audergon, Emanuel Berman, Sandra Bloom, Jocelyn Chaplin, Petruska Clarkson, Chess Denman, Dawn Freshwater, Kate Gentile, John Lees, Renos Papadopoulos, Hilary Prentice, Mary-Jayne Rust, Judy Ryde, Andrew Samuels, Nick Totton.
Psychotherapists and critics of psychotherapy outline their views and answer their adversaries. The critics draw attention to the inadequacy of research validating the results of psychotherapy and argue that no treatment at all may be as effective as therapy, that some people's experience of therapy is harmful, that there is a preciousness and pretentiousness about many psychotherapists, that psychotherapists may be flawed and exploitative, that psychotherapy is anachronistically detached from the new-paradigm views, and that psychotherapy embodies a form of psychological reductionism that weakens its credibility. The object of this book is to reduce the antagonism between the two camps so that future debate can be more constructive than hitherto. The contributors are Michael Barkham, Ian Craib, Gill Edwards, Albert Ellis, Hans Eysenck, Stephen Frosh, Sol Garfield, Ernest Gellner, Jeremy Holmes, Paul Kline, Katherine Mair, Jeffrey Masson, David Pilgrim, Jeff Roberts, John Rowan, David Shapiro and Stuart Sutherland.
