Psychotherapy Isn't What You Think: Bringing the Psychotherapeutic Engagement into the Living Moment

Rating:
Summary: A true master therapist speaks again.
Review: Psychotherapy Isn't What You Think: Bringing the Psychotherapeutic Engagement Into the Living Moment. James F.T. Bugental, Ph.D. Zeig/Tucker, 1999. The latest work of this pioneering existential-humanistic master psychotherapist. The subtitle concisely states the central deceptively simple theme that he has been hammering at (or hammering out) for the past four decades--that therapy is not detective work to uncover the past, or to explain how a client got to be a certain way, but rather it is a joint undertaking between therapist and client in which both parties must strive to be present in the moment. Bugental argues powerfully and persuasively for the primacy of the client's subjective experience as the proper realm for true depth psychotherapy. He demonstrates clearly in this text (as well as in previous writings, such as his classic, The Art of the Psychotherapist), the therapist must avoid the pitfalls of the "content trap," but rather focus attention on the client's process. Although most therapists think they know the difference between content versus process, in actuality, the term "process" is often used so loosely that it becomes meaningless, as in references to a client "processing her feelings," or "leading a process group." Bugental skillfully elucidates the various nuances of a client's process, and shows how the therapist can begin to notate or "tag" the client's process, helping clients to see, experience, and gradually modify the the most restrictive elements of their process which form their core patterns of life (and therapy) resistance. The chapter titles and subheadings alone should be enough to make you run out (or double click) and buy this book (published by the new press, Zeig, Tucker, & Co--This is the Jeffrey Zeig, director of the Milton Erickson Foundation, producer of the Evolution of Psychotherapy Conferences, and a masterful therapist and teacher in his own right). A few samples: Living is Only in the Now--Orienting psychotherapy to what is actually present; Two Eyes are Better than One--We need both the objective and the subjective; and The Necessity for Space Suits--Our self-and-world construct systems. Written by Jim Bugental in his eighties, this work should give us a cause to celebrate, reminding us of why we were drawn to this field in the first place.

Rating:
Summary: A true master therapist speaks again.
Review: Psychotherapy Isn't What You Think: Bringing the Psychotherapeutic Engagement Into the Living Moment. James F.T. Bugental, Ph.D. Zeig/Tucker, 1999. The latest work of this pioneering existential-humanistic master psychotherapist. The subtitle concisely states the central deceptively simple theme that he has been hammering at (or hammering out) for the past four decades--that therapy is not detective work to uncover the past, or to explain how a client got to be a certain way, but rather it is a joint undertaking between therapist and client in which both parties must strive to be present in the moment. Bugental argues powerfully and persuasively for the primacy of the client's subjective experience as the proper realm for true depth psychotherapy. He demonstrates clearly in this text (as well as in previous writings, such as his classic, The Art of the Psychotherapist), the therapist must avoid the pitfalls of the "content trap," but rather focus attention on the client's process. Although most therapists think they know the difference between content versus process, in actuality, the term "process" is often used so loosely that it becomes meaningless, as in references to a client "processing her feelings," or "leading a process group." Bugental skillfully elucidates the various nuances of a client's process, and shows how the therapist can begin to notate or "tag" the client's process, helping clients to see, experience, and gradually modify the the most restrictive elements of their process which form their core patterns of life (and therapy) resistance. The chapter titles and subheadings alone should be enough to make you run out (or double click) and buy this book (published by the new press, Zeig, Tucker, & Co--This is the Jeffrey Zeig, director of the Milton Erickson Foundation, producer of the Evolution of Psychotherapy Conferences, and a masterful therapist and teacher in his own right). A few samples: Living is Only in the Now--Orienting psychotherapy to what is actually present; Two Eyes are Better than One--We need both the objective and the subjective; and The Necessity for Space Suits--Our self-and-world construct systems. Written by Jim Bugental in his eighties, this work should give us a cause to celebrate, reminding us of why we were drawn to this field in the first place.