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Reviews failure as a person obscures other realities from view. Their courage lies in committing themselves to the risks of group interaction, saying the unsayable, returning after difficult sessions, and so forth. As Gans says, ‘most patients are doing the best they can’. Group therapists display courage in various ways also, depending on their personal sense of fear. For some, it might be deviating from their model, for example, or openly confronting their own mistakes. The journey travels via issues of hostility, money, silence, difficult patients, indirect communication, combined group and individual therapy, and the missed session. In all these areas Gans has thoughtful things to say. His personal comments provide the most engaging sections, testifying to his recognition that the facilitator’s issues are always in the group. Otherwise, although the most recent chapters are only a few years old, it felt to be a book from my past. The issues Gans raises are interesting, but they are not for me the difficult questions in group psychotherapy in 2010. Lacking a critical engagement with its own social, historical and political context, the book presents a world in which conventions can be challenged but underlying structures are unquestioned. For example, the authority of the therapist is not seen in the context of class, gender, sexuality, age, race, ethnicity, disability or age. These are the powerful structural divisions that shape the self, and present for me the really difficult topics in group psychotherapy. Chris Rose is a psychotherapist, writer and Associate Editor for groupwork for Therapy Today 38 Therapy Today/www.therapytoday.net/November 2010 Managing difficult people Dealing with difficult people: from rookie to expert in a week Kay Frances Marshall Cavendish, £9.99 ISBN 978-0462099781 Reviewed by Val W Allen Aimed at the professional working within organisations, perhaps with some management responsibilities, this is a practical self-help book. It provides a focused description of the hazards of working life, outlining typically difficult workplace situations and people. It aims to help professionals improve relationships at work by providing strategies for dealing with some of those difficulties. Counsellors working in workplace or employee assistance programme (EAP) settings may find it useful to recommend to clients. The book gives clear categories of the types of people who may be encountered, combined with some simple tactics for managing them. Broadly, this means using emotional intelligence to understand difficult colleagues, providing strategies to turn them into allies. It also includes techniques for communicating and negotiating, problem solving and managing confrontation. Although some therapists will find this manipulative, others will find the sketches of characters and situations helpful for clients suffering work-based stress. It uses simple, clear English in a format that is easy to dip into. It is well structured and organised, including tips and notes for coaches. Although some tips, such as ‘Keep away from bad news and depressed people’, can seem simplistic, they lead on to practical techniques for dealing with situations and people. Not tackled specifically in the book are problems arising from difficult and/or bullying managers or superiors. Nor is there much recognition of the long-term difficulties that can arise from making use of grievance procedures, especially when the culprit is a senior colleague. Val W Allen is a counsellor, psychotherapist and supervisor Pros and cons of humanistic therapies The problem with humanistic therapies Nick Totton Karnac 2010, £12.99 ISBN 978-1855756632 Reviewed by Louise Guy This is part of a series of books that aim to ‘set out the stall for different kinds of therapies and treatments, and then demonstrate that, whatever the proposed solutions, they are not necessarily a cure-all, and can be accompanied by a series of potentially intractable problems’. Nick Totton attempts what is probably an impossible task and, inevitably, what has been produced in a book of only four chapters and 79 pages is a severely limited look at humanistic therapies. This is, however, balanced by a wideranging list of 140 references, many of which are the seminal works in their fields. Totton takes Transactional Analysis, Gestalt and Rogerian therapy as his ‘big three’ humanistic therapies, although he does make passing reference to others. The series is tightly structured. Chapter one is entitled ‘What are the humanistic therapies?’ Chapter two addresses the ‘strengths’ of humanistic therapies through the 10 distinguishing features that Totton identifies. These he balances in chapter three by examining 10 ‘weaknesses’. The final chapter considers how to move forward. As might be expected from this author, he tackles the social and political aspects of the subject, and the book is topical as it addresses the likely regulation of counsellors and psychotherapists by the Health Professions Council, identifying some particular problems humanistic therapies might have with statutory regulation. Oddly, there is no mention of the major role played by employee assistance programmes in the commissioning of counselling and psychotherapy in the UK. I have not read the other books in the series. If this book was read in conjunction with the others, I suspect that a broad overview of the current state of therapy in the UK would emerge. However, on its own, it is not obvious which type of reader is being addressed. This book is a curiosity but worth a look. Louise Guy is a senior accredited counsellor in private practice in central Scotland
Co-creating therapeutic conversations Reflexivity in therapeutic practice Fran Hedges Palgrave Macmillan 2010, £21.99 ISBN 978-0230553088 Reviewed by Richard House Few, if any, specifically counselling/psychotherapy books have been written on reflexivity per se. Several books have been published on reflective practice, and on therapists’ use of self; however, the distinction between ‘reflexive’ and ‘reflective’ might be one that needs more attention. In the introduction we’re usefully told that ‘reflexive’ is defined as ‘capable of turning or bending back… directed back upon the mind itself’ [my italics] (p2). Writing a book on reflexivity is by no means straightforward, and Hedges’ approach is perhaps as good as any. Following Vernon Cronen’s lengthy contextualising foreword, chapter one explores the ways in which our own biographical stories influence our therapeutic conversations. Thus, ‘when we meet a client... our identities intermingle... we are literally entangled in stories at the interpersonal level... and we... influence each other’s self-descriptions, developing... “we-identities”’ (p15). The author’s socialconstructionist, postmodern predilections (which I largely share) are clearly apparent throughout. Chapter two looks at the central role of the emotions in reflexivity, and chapter three looks at how language (a favourite theme in postmodern thinking) influences our assumptions and prejudices. Chapter four looks, interestingly, at how stories of time influence conversations, and chapter five explores transparency and self-disclosure. Chapter six considers bodily responses, and chapters seven and eight look, respectively, at further ideas/resources for practice and supervision. The book has an engagingly non-mystifying readability that never lapses into theoretical obscurantism or superficiality. Hedges renders challenging postmodern ideas in a comprehensible way, weaving in case study material that is always stimulating and thoughtful. I do, however, have several concerns. The term ‘made me feel’ recurs throughout the book. This is a problematic notion, suggesting a kind of determinism that most therapy modalities would reject; and it surely has no place in a reflexive discourse that privileges co-creation. There are also points in the practice examples with which some therapeutic modalities would take issue: for example, extensive self-disclosure, inviting the relatives of clients to come to therapy sessions, etc. But these practices do serve the goal of encouraging readers to look again at the often taken-for-granted therapeutic ‘regimes of truth’ within which we work, and to question their assumptions. This is an excellent book for any student/trainee wanting a readable and engaging introduction to systemically informed, postmodern approaches to co-creating effective therapeutic conversations. Richard House is Senior Lecturer in Psychotherapy and Counselling at Roehampton University and the author of Therapy Beyond Modernity and Against and for CBT The impact of domestic abuse Rebuilding lives after domestic violence: understanding long-term outcomes Hilary Abrahams Jessica Kingsley 2010, £18.99 ISBN 978-1843109617 Reviewed by Cath Fuller This is a longitudinal study of the effects of domestic violence and abuse on the lives of 12 women. They were interviewed first when they were in refuges, then six months later, then a few years after that. This is the book’s unique selling point, as most studies cover a much shorter timescale. Working with the women over this extended timescale, Abrahams was able to gain their trust, and they report they found the research process a validating and positive experience in itself. The author’s respectful, acceptant and honest approach models the guiding principles of working with women whose self-esteem and sense of safety have been shattered by domestic violence and abuse. It is the author’s aim to assist today’s policy makers and service-providers in developing appropriate, targeted and cost-effective services. This is a really useful resource for inexperienced and trainee counsellors. It is written in clear and direct language and is well structured, with bulletpointed summaries at the end of each chapter and a useful list of organisations and their websites in an appendix. Counsellors who are more experienced in this field may not be surprised by the book’s conclusions, but they are likely to gain a richer and deeper understanding of the problems and impact of domestic violence from these women’s stories. With evidence that 30 per cent of a larger group of women surveyed either started or returned to abusive relationships after leaving the refuge, emotional loneliness is identified here as one of the major hurdles to be negotiated. The reader learns that the gradual process of leaving and returning to an abuser ‘may ultimately increase a woman’s confidence in her ability to manage alone, or… to recognise that she is repeating old and outworn patterns of behaviour and eventually gain the strength to take a stand against the abuse’. It can feel frustrating and overwhelming to counsel these clients. The closing chapters of the book – in which the women look forward to brighter futures – powerfully validate the work of services which do not give up on those who live with domestic violence and abuse, difficult and draining as the work may be. Cath Fuller is a psychotherapist November 2010/www.therapytoday.net/Therapy Today 39
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Page 3 and 4: Contents Sarah Browne Editor For se
Page 5 and 6: Mental health groups praise governm
Page 7 and 8: In practice Words and labels Kevin
Page 9 and 10: In training Walking the line Alex E
Page 11 and 12: Increasingly, counsellors and psych
Page 13 and 14: defined as the assumption that diff
Page 15: Questionnaire Jeremy Clarke A natio
Page 18 and 19: Viewpoint References 1. Wampold BE.
Page 20: Training Becoming a counsellor Surp
Page 23 and 24: ‘Trainees were primarily concerne
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Page 27 and 28: my work. This is not because I am o
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Page 31 and 32: Dilemmas The counselling-coaching i
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Page 37: Reviews Evidence for the economic v
Page 41 and 42: News From the Chair How are develop
Page 43 and 44: Could you write an information shee
Page 45 and 46: Case Study Research in Counselling
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