Drawn from the author's experience as an internationally recognized theorist, lecturer and practitioner, this book on existential therapy elucidates this notoriously difficult and distinctly different therapeutic approach to counselling and psychotherapy.
The Interpreted World, Second Edition, is a welcome introduction to phenomenological psychology, an area of psychology which has its roots in notoriously difficult philosophical literature.
Therapeutic Encounters from an Existential Perspective
Presents the lives of eight individuals whose experiences illuminate a variety of dilemmas and anxieties that most of us encounter at different points of our lives. According to Spinelli (psychology, Regent's College), therapy at its most fundamental level involves the act of revealing, reassessing
Drawn from the author's experience as an internationally-recognised theorist, lecturer and practitioner, this practical book elucidates the notoriously difficult and distinctly different therapeutic approach, existential therapy. Balancing theory and practice, the book provides trainees with an accessible introduction to the author's own three phase structural model for existential therapy, one which has become widely established and used in training and practice. Substantially revised and updated throughout, Part One examines the philosophical underpinnings, essential theory and distinctive features of existential therapy while Part Two goes on to present the author's structural model for practice. Both parts are now prefaced by useful schematic overviews which introduce the content and pinpoint key themes in each chapter, helping readers to navigate the text with ease. Practical exercises encourage further engagement with the text and the themes, issues and practices under consideration. Seen by existential therapists across the world as one of the most influential books on the topic, this new edition is an essential read for all those training, practising or interested in existential therapy.
`I think this book may well act as both a stimulus for therapists and an important reminder of the vulnerabilities that we all have, but do not always choose to share' - Journal of the Society for Existential Analysis This book sets out to explore the various ways in which a therapist can be a living expression, or embodiment, of his or her chosen theoretical approach. The book consists of expert practitioners articulating their own particular 'embodied theory' answering the questions: how do we live different psychotherapeutic theories? How do they guide or clarify the lives of therapists? What aspects of theory resonate with the ways therapists understand themselves and relate to others? Contributors Michael Jacobs, Windy Dryden, MalcoLm Partlett, Dorothy Rowe, Miles Gorth, Anthony Stevens, John Rowan and Alvin Mahrer.
`It is surely worth reading, not only by the author's fellow psychiatrists, but also by psychologists in general' - Contemporary Psychology `I found this book a joy to read. Each chapter sets out the orthodoxy in question, then proceeds to explain lucidly the author's difficulties with this orthodoxy and to suggest an alternative way of looking at the issues' - Self and Society Psychotherapy's influence seems all pervasive today. But to what end? Is helping people really therapy's main mission? This provocative book explores the alternatives to psychotherapeutic orthodoxies on such vital issues as sexuality; the self; the unconscious; creativity; and the dilemma of evil. Erensto Spinelli challenges psychotherapy, asking if it has retreated from its early promise of being a pivotal agent in our attempts to discover what it means to be human, in exchange for its current role as a pacifier of personal and social unease.
The Interpreted World, Second Edition, is a welcome introduction to phenomenological psychology, an area of psychology which has its roots in notoriously difficult philosophical literature. Writing in a highly accessible, jargon-free style, Ernesto Spinelli traces the philosophical origins of phenomenological theory and presents phenomenological perspectives on central topics in psychology - perception, social cognition and the self. A new chapter on phenomenological research has also been added. The Interpreted World, Second Edition demystifies an exciting branch of psychology, making its insights available to all students of psychology, psychotherapy and counselling.
