Clients who seek therapy often feel they are struggling with their whole being: their emotional, physical, relational and social selves. Understanding this is crucial to developing a successful therapeutic relationship. Using psychodynamic, psychoanalytic and existential ideas, this book explores topics fundamental to human living, such as love, generosity, shame, mortality and spirituality. It considers how these states of being can affect clients' lives and the important role they play in the relationship between the therapist and the client. Combining theory with clinical experience and practice, it provides trainee and practising therapists with a thought-provoking perspective that broadens and enriches thinking, reflection and understanding of their work. Drawing on original thought from a range of theorists including Bion, Buber, Freud, Heidegger, Irigaray, Jung, Klein and Winnicott, this book is an important contribution for students and practitioners in the fields of counselling and psychotherapy.

In this book, the author argues and demonstrates that embodiment and relationship are inseparable, both in human existence and in the practice of psychotherapy. It is helpful for psychotherapist, psychoanalyst, counsellor, or other psychopractitioner.

What is a therapeutic alliance? How do I create a bond? What might lead to the alliance breaking down? What do I do when the relationship feels stuck? These are just some of the questions addressed in this important new book for trainee and qualified therapists wanting to understand, engage in and make the most of the therapeutic relationship. Taking you through each stage of the therapeutic process, from initial boundary setting to effective endings, the book considers a number of different settings and client groups such as working in an online environment and with children and young people. Structured around ‘Frequently Asked Questions’, an accessible and engaging narrative guides you though the skills and considerations for an effective therapeutic relationship, as well as the potential challenges it might face. Bringing to the forefront the mutuality of the relationship and the client as a proactive agent, this book will equip you with the knowledge and skills needed to develop trusting and productive relationships with your clients.

The therapeutic relationship is considered to be the most significant factor in achieving positive therapeutic change. As such, it is essential that trainee and practising therapists are able to facilitate a strong working alliance with each of their clients. This book will help them do just that, by offering a practical and evidence-based guide to all aspects of the therapeutic relationship in counselling and psychotherapy. Cross-modal in its approach, this book examines the issues impacting on the therapeutic relationship true to all models of practice. Content covered includes: - The history of the therapeutic relationship - The place of the therapeutic relationship in a range of therapy settings, including IAPT - Concepts and practical skills essential for establishing and maintaining a successful working alliance - The application of the therapeutic relationship to a variety of professional roles in health and social care - Practice issues including potential challenges to the therapeutic relationship, working with diversity and personal and professional development - Research and new developments Using examples, points for reflection and chapter aims and summaries to help consolidate learning, the authors break down the complex and often daunting topic of the therapeutic relationship, making this essential reading for trainee and practising therapists, as well as those working in a wider range of health, social care and helping relationships.

Eagerly awaited by many counsellors and psychotherapists, this new edition includes an updated preface, new content on recent research and new developments and debates around relational depth, and new case studies. This groundbreaking text goes to the very heart of the therapeutic meeting between therapist and client. Focusing on the concept of ′relational depth′, the authors describe a form of encounter in which therapist and client experience profound feelings of contact and engagement with each other, and in which the client has an opportunity to explore whatever is experienced as most fundamental to her or his existence. The book has helped thousands of trainees and practitioners understand how to facilitate a relationally-deep encounter, identify the personal ‘blocks’ that may be encountered along the way, and consider new therapeutic concepts – such as ′holistic listening′ – that help them to meet their clients at this level. This classic text remains a source of fresh thinking and stimulating ideas about the therapeutic encounter which is relevant to trainees and practitioners of all orientations.

In the best therapeutic tradition, Louis Breger describes contemporary theories and research in the field of analytic psychotherapy. Through the framework of his personal experiences as a scholar, researcher, and therapist, he focuses on his relationships with patients over the span of his fifty-year career. He records their reactions, in their own words, to their experience with psychotherapy many years after its conclusion. The author surveyed over thirty former patients to see if their progress, begun in therapy, had continued, expanded, or regressed. They were asked to highlight what they remembered as being most helpful, therapeutic, or curative in their treatment. The book is a unique long-term follow-up demonstrating the effectiveness of modern analytic psychotherapy. Breger primarily deals with the connections between therapist and patient. This is a professional memoir of the life of the psychotherapist dealing with trials as a young practitioner, lessons learned, and personal reflections on the choices, including mistakes, made along the way. Young therapists, and those who are in or considering psychotherapy, will find it helpful to have access to this self-reflective approach. Extracts from the patients are extensive and informative, giving the reader the opportunity to see therapy from their perspectives. The book also centers on the development of the therapist over his career span. Breger acknowledges that his understanding of patient care has improved over time in the eyes of his patients. In a larger sense, the book contains lessons for all psychotherapists. This is an important, unique, and innovative work. *Click here for an interview with the author. *Click here for an interview with the author on KQED's Forum with Michael Krasny

and knowledge, and as a possible way to illuminate change processes in psychotherapy. Today, developmental researchers and neuroscientists increasingly locate keys to psychological health and development in the earliest interactions between mother and infant." "This book, which consists of significant papers by the BCPSG, traces the group's contributions to psychoanalytic topics of note, including; the location of the implicit, the creation of meaning, the moment-by-moment clinical process, and the subjective experience of the therapist. The book also includes new introductions to selected chapters, which provide background on the original intent and reception of each article." --Book Jacket.