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Dependency and Denial: The Stories That Divide Us

Author(s) : Joseph Pawson

Reviews and Endorsements

‘Joseph Pawson shows that fantasies of self-sufficiency lie at the heart of personal and political splits and polarisations. In a persuasive and accessible volume, he urges us to awake from the dreamy narratives in which we are immersed and confront the pain – again, private and public – that, when denied, fuels division.’
Professor Andrew Samuels, former chair, UK Council for Psychotherapy; author of Reflecting Critically on the Political Psyche

‘This book explores one of the essential and problematic issues at the core of western culture, that of the psychological denial of our entanglement with each other and the natural world. Joseph Pawson describes how this denial of our systemic interdependence is at the root of many of the psychological and cultural problems we experience within modernity today. As we face the breakdown of social structures, climate crisis, and the collapse of our relationship with nature, Pawson passionately argues that psychotherapy has an essential role in helping us overcome our fear of vulnerability, which has its roots in transgenerational trauma, in order to face humanity’s unfolding future.’
Roger Duncan, systemic, family, and eco psychotherapist; systemic supervisor; author of Nature in Mind

‘This lively and engaging text offers a psychologically informed discussion for general readership about our dependency needs as adults. It explores how these needs are formed in early life, their impact on our relationships and worldview, and how our defences against dependency have come to threaten our very existence on this planet. Examples from therapy sessions offer a window into how these issues may be addressed with the individual, pointing to wider impacts on our relationship to self and other, the environment, and ultimately to our world and collective future.’
Tree Staunton, climate psychologist; UKCP honorary fellow; co-editor of Being a Therapist in a Time of Climate Breakdown

‘An accessible and wide-ranging book introducing the reader to the themes of dependency and denial laid down in infancy and their impact on our adult relationships and wider world view, including the ecosystems that support us. Joseph Pawson’s easy-to-read style incorporates examples of his work with clients, and how therapy can help us to better understand these themes in ourselves and others and move towards a compassionate awareness of our inherent interconnectedness.’
Kate Bowman, psychotherapist; supervisor; course leader, MA in humanistic and integrative psychotherapy, Bath Centre for Psychotherapy and Counselling

‘Joseph Pawson brings a steadying clarity to the complex realms and unconscious forces at play in our intimate bonds. He offers a quiet critique of the societal and implicitly patriarchal structures that hold us in disconnection, also played out in our attitudes towards the earth. From this emerges a contrasting call for humanity to draw upon the spiritual values of interconnection, circularity, and timelessness. This is a clear-seeing and beautiful book for anyone looking to find the courage to step into vulnerability and embrace all that it means to be human. It will benefit anyone who reads it.’
Amy McCormack, psychotherapeutic counsellor; editor of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy journal Thresholds