Talking About Therapy

(Hardback)

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Filled with anecdotes this work tells us what patients say about why they sought therapy, what they think of the therapists to whom they entrusted their well-being, and whether it was worth the struggle, the emotional pain and the money. Their narratives are told within a framework that reveals how our society and the mental health field have changed since 1940. World War II, Marxism, the Vietnam War, feminism, gay activism, the decline of the nuclear family, television, street drugs, AIDS and managed care have changed our society, with obvious effects on patients and practitioners. Add to these forces the introduction of psychoactive drugs such as Thorazine and Prozac, the bewildering discharge of hospitalized mental patients into their unprepared communities and the emergence of alternative New Age approaches to psychotherapy. "Talking About Therapy" elaborates on these topics and describes the effects of these forces on modern-day therapy. The book's power flows from the stories. They are touching, infuriating, inspirational, shocking, and above all, candid. Some say therapy taught them to think, became their religion, unleashed their creativity; others are bitter, consider it a scam. This book is for the mental health professional, patients and potential patients.

Reviews

This is a book that will be interesting and useful to both a lay and professional readership. Those persons who are considering entering therapy will find encouragement and guidance from the experiences their predecessors describe in this book. Therapists, on the other hand, will garner from these narratives valuable information about those qualities and abilities that psychotherapy patients most cherish in their therapists. * American Journal of Psychotherpay *
From the heyday of Freudian psychoanalysis, through the tumult of the Vietnam War, feminism and gay activism, to our current era of street drugs, and the prevelence of anti-depressants, the impact of therapy on the lives of the individuals in this book is conveyed directly and dramatically, with unflinching honesty. * Adolescence *

Author Bio

DONNA D. COMAROW, a clinical social worker and board certified diplomate in her field, lectures on topics from attachment theory to creativity and psychosis, and is working on a book on how people resolve grief. MARTHA W. CHESCHEIR, a former professor at Catholic University's School of Social Service and at Smith College, teaches advanced level clinicians at the Washington School of Psychiatry and maintains a private practice.