Therapists are often expected to be immune to the kind of problems that
they help clients through. This book serves to demonstrate that this is
certainly not the case: they are no more resistant to difficult and
unexpected personal circumstances than anyone else. In this book Marie
Adams looks into the kind of problems that therapists can be afraid to
face in their own lives, including divorce, bereavement, illness,
depression and anxiety and uses the experience of others to examine the
best ways of dealing with them.
The Myth of the Untroubled Therapist looks at the lives of forty
practitioners to learn how they coped during times of personal strife.
CBT, psychoanalytic, integrative and humanistic therapists from an
international array of backgrounds were interviewed about how they
believed their personal lives affected their work with clients. Over
half admitted to suffering from depression since entering the profession
and many continued practising while ill or under great stress. Some
admitted to using their work as a 'buffer' against their personal
circumstances in an attempt to avoid focusing on their own pain. Using
clinical examples, personal experience, research literature and the
voices of the many therapists interviewed, Adams challenges mental
health professionals to take a step back and consider their own
well-being as a vital first step to promoting insight and change in
those they seek to help.
Linking therapists' personal histories to their choice of career, The
Myth of the Untroubled Therapist pinpoints some of the key elements
that may serve, and sometimes undermine, counsellors working in private
practice or mental health settings. The book is ideal for counsellors
and psychotherapists as well as social workers and those working within
any kind of helping profession.
