What Therapists Don't Talk About and Why

Course overview

This book explores the problems, dilemmas, double-binds and provocations that take place between therapists and their clients. The authors approach the content with humor and wisdom, challenging professionals to explore the real impact their values, assumptions, and personal interests have upon their clients. It was written to help therapists explore topics that are taboo, that receive only superficial treatment, or that provoke anxiety, discomfort, and confusion. In a culture of increasing professional accountability and liability, clinicians will benefit from implementing the commonsense suggestions made by the authors. The text explores a wide range of topics, including feelings of incompetence; therapists' blunders; fee disasters; hatred for a patient; therapists getting sick, growing old, and dying; confusion about disability and accessibility; prayer with patients as part of therapy; boredom; patients with terrible body odor; therapists' fears and terrors; sexual orientation and self-disclosure; vulnerability; therapists' shame and guilt; difficult aspects of race and ethnicity; anger at patients; the experience of being fired; confusion about what to do; and betrayal of oneself, profession, and values to get ahead or just survive.