Main description:

This hard-hitting, impeccably referenced book draws on academic theories and analyses of power and the author's personal experience both as client and practitioner to critique power within the psychotherapeutic relationship and within the organisations where therapy takes place. Accessible, political and severely critical of her own profession, Proctor provides an essential reminder to student, practitioner and researcher of the imperative to remain always mindful of the values and ethics of justice and responsibility. In this revised second edition, Gillian Proctor extends her discussion to the more recent challenges presented by the IAPT programme.

Contents:

Introduction; Why does power in therapy matter to me?; Isn't therapy always dangerous or abusive?; What is power? Structural theories; How does power work? Post-structural theories; Cognitive Behaviour Therapy: the obscuring of power in the name of science; Person-Centred Therapy: equality in the therapy relationship?; The Psychodynamic Approach: isn't the power all in the transference?; Conclusions: So what can we do about power?