The Art of Psychotherapy

Here is perhaps the most human, common sense and revealing account of psychotherapy available: what it is; how it should be practiced; what it can achieve. Anthony Storr here presents the fruit of his 30 years experience teaching and practicing individual psychotherapy. In the ten years since it was first published the book has been widely read by psychotherapists in training or just beginning practice, as well as in, or entering, the helping professions. For the layman, Storr's book constitutes a fascinating "inside" introduction, free of jargon and mystique. This eminent psychotherapist argues that successful psychotherapy depends on developing an intensely personal patient-therapist relationship. He contends it is essential both that the psychotherapist possess a capacity for empathy with a wide variety of personality types; and be more concerned about understanding patients as whole persons than in diagnosing precise kinds of neurosis. An unusual chapter on "The Personality of the Psychotherapist" is included because the personalities of both participants must be taken into account in such an intimate relationship.