Learning from the Patient

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful book that captures the meaning of understanding.
Review: I found Casement to be fascinating in his explanation of the interaction between he and his patients. He described his thoughts and ideas in an uncomplicated manner and as a student I found this to be most helpful. After reading his book, a lot of things finally made sense to me. I strongly recommend reading this book to all clinicians as it can be used within any framework and theory

Rating:
Summary: Pas de Deux
Review: In the "pas de deux", the dance between the therapist and the patient, so much goes on it's nearly impossible to get a grip on it all and Casement does a beautiful job of describing this. So much of what he "knows" he knows in retrospect, but such is the stuff of case histories. Meanwhile, when you're together, the dance goes on! What I liked especially about this book is that he makes an attempt to be humble in the presence of his patients; an attempt anyway. If you've ever been in the helping professions, and can get your ego out of the way, that's just the way it is. You get your degree, you read and read, you have your own analysis or whatever, but what comes up in the therapy room never seems to have been covered in the text books. So you learn-as-you-go. His carefully delineated case histories take you step-by-step through the complicated process, and you will learn a lot from this book -- if nothing else you can take heart that it's a very complicated "dance" indeed. You can be taught the steps, but putting it together with your "partner" will be yours alone!

Rating:
Summary: Pas de Deux
Review: In the "pas de deux", the dance between the therapist and the patient, so much goes on it's nearly impossible to get a grip on it all and Casement does a beautiful job of describing this. So much of what he "knows" he knows in retrospect, but such is the stuff of case histories. Meanwhile, when you're together, the dance goes on! What I liked especially about this book is that he makes an attempt to be humble in the presence of his patients; an attempt anyway. If you've ever been in the helping professions, and can get your ego out of the way, that's just the way it is. You get your degree, you read and read, you have your own analysis or whatever, but what comes up in the therapy room never seems to have been covered in the text books. So you learn-as-you-go. His carefully delineated case histories take you step-by-step through the complicated process, and you will learn a lot from this book -- if nothing else you can take heart that it's a very complicated "dance" indeed. You can be taught the steps, but putting it together with your "partner" will be yours alone!

Rating:
Summary: The single best psychotherapy book
Review: This is the single best psychotherapy book I have ever read! It teaches listening skills for things only subtley said. It presents respectful ways of understanding the psychotherapy process. A person who can really learn from the patient will automatically become a wonderful therapist, a person who cannot learn will only be a hack. Read or be a hack.

Rating:
Summary: The single best psychotherapy book
Review: This is the single best psychotherapy book I have ever read! It teaches listening skills for things only subtley said. It presents respectful ways of understanding the psychotherapy process. A person who can really learn from the patient will automatically become a wonderful therapist, a person who cannot learn will only be a hack. Read or be a hack.