There's a brief and intriguing article in today's New York Times, asserting that psychotherapy has an image problem. Whether the author is being deliberately provocative or not, I like the article for the conversation it has generated - and in particular, this response, from a practising psychologist in Pittsburgh:
'In reality, psychotherapy is nothing like a drug. Rather, it is a complex but profoundly rewarding process of examining one's life, history, desires, relationships, hopes, and fears in order to open up new possibilities and make new meaning out of one's experience. It is inherently discursive, inherently existential, and inherently relational.
At the outset, we never know quite where it will take us, what we will discover in the process, or indeed whether we will achieve our initial goals. However, psychotherapy of some duration undertaken with a competent therapist seldom fails to be deeply meaningful.'
I'm keen to hear your views on this, dear Alliance members. Do we have - ahem - a collective image problem..?!
Warmest wishes,
Esther
