The Seven
Deadly Sins? grew out of a post-qualification training
course of the same name. It aims to make more accessible
some concepts from the world of psychoanalysis,
self-psychology and affective neuroscience, as well as
commenting on the challenge of working “in the real
world”. This is achieved by offering an integrative and
anecdotal perspective on issues that have been generally
un- or under-explored in trainings that have a
humanistic emphasis, issues such as envy, shame, love
and hate, trauma, addiction, money, and eating
disorders. These issues are illustrated through the
judicious use of clinical case studies. Various “maps”
are provided to assist the supervisor and clinician in
holding opposing diagnostic models and in working with
psychotherapy and counselling trainees. |
This
title is as a wake-up call to take seriously the climate
in which mental health professionals practice in which
complaints and civil actions against psychotherapists
and counsellors are on the increase and to sharpen
assessment skills accordingly. It is also designed to
help professionals to think about the "therapeutic
frame" and what can happen to both the practitioner and
the client when it is broken and finally to give voice
to some colleagues who have been involved in the area of
complaints in the hope that you and the organisations
under whose codes of ethics you practice will take more
of an interest in making those codes and frameworks more
relevant to the intricacies of the therapeutic
relationship. The message is simple: injuries that
happen in relationships need to be addressed in
relationships.