The Mirror and the Hammer

`It is surely worth reading, not only by the author′s fellow psychiatrists, but also by psychologists in general′ - Contemporary Psychology `I found this book a joy to read. Each chapter sets out the orthodoxy in question, then proceeds to explain lucidly the author′s difficulties with this orthodoxy and to suggest an alternative way of looking at the issues′ - Self and Society Psychotherapy′s influence seems all pervasive today. But to what end? Is helping people really therapy′s main mission? This provocative book explores the alternatives to psychotherapeutic orthodoxies on such vital issues as sexuality; the self; the unconscious; creativity; and the dilemma of evil. Erensto Spinelli challenges psychotherapy, asking if it has retreated from its early promise of being a pivotal agent in our attempts to discover what it means to be human, in exchange for its current role as a pacifier of personal and social unease.

Table of Contents:
Celebrating Mediocrity What Has Happened to Psychotherapy? To Disclose or Not to Disclose - That is the Question I am Not a Noun The Vagaries of the Self Do We Really Need the Unconscious? Reconfiguring Human Sexuality Conflicting Desires Childhood and Sexuality Psychotherapy and the Challenge of Evil Creation and Being A Challenge to Psychoanalytic Theories of Artistic Creativity Beyond the Great Beyond The Mirror and the Hammer Some Hesistant Steps Towards a More Humane Psychotherapy

About the Author :
Professor Ernesto Spinelli has gained an international reputation as one of the leading contemporary trainers and theorists of existential analysis as applied to psychology and psychotherapy and, more recently, the related arenas of coaching and conflict mediation. He is a UKCP registered existential psychotherapist, a Fellow of the British Psychological Society (BPS) and the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) as well as an accredited executive coach and coaching supervisor. In 1999, Ernesto was awarded a Personal Chair as Professor of psychotherapy, counselling and counselling psychology. Ernesto is Director of ES Associates, an organisation dedicated to the advancement of psychotherapy, coaching, and supervision through specialist seminars and training programmes. Professor Ernesto Spinelli has gained an international reputation as one of the leading contemporary trainers and theorists of existential analysis as applied to psychology and psychotherapy and, more recently, the related arenas of coaching and conflict mediation. He is a UKCP registered existential psychotherapist, a Fellow of the British Psychological Society (BPS) and the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) as well as an accredited executive coach and coaching supervisor. In 1999, Ernesto was awarded a Personal Chair as Professor of psychotherapy, counselling and counselling psychology. Ernesto is Director of ES Associates, an organisation dedicated to the advancement of psychotherapy, coaching, and supervision through specialist seminars and training programmes.

Review :
'It is surely worth reading, not only by the author's fellow psychiatrists, but also by psychologists in general' - Contemporary Psychology 'I found this book a joy to read. Each chapter sets out the orthodoxy in question, then proceeds to explain lucidly the author's difficulties with this orthodoxy and to suggest an alternative way of looking at the issues' - Self and Society