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Dual Realities: The Search for Meaning: Psychodynamic Therapy with Physically Ill People

Editor : Ruth Archer

Reviews and Endorsements

'To work with patients with severe physical disorders is uniquely challenging... Counsellors and psychotherapists are accustomed to having to work in the awareness that, however great their devotion, care, and skill, there can be no certainty that the outcome will be "improvement" or greater happiness for their patient. Nevertheless, in the ordinary course of counselling work, the lives of many patients do develop and find meaning, and counsellors may legitimately take great pleasure from that fact. Working with patients with deteriorating disability or severe illness confronts the counsellor with the sober reality of a situation that may offer no chance, or certainly no likelihood, of external improvement ...Overall, this book is a collection of moving and insightful contributions by dedicated clinicians, working in a very important specialised area. The great value of the work will, I think, be self-evident to readers, whether they are inside or outside the world of psychotherapy and counselling.' - David M. Black, from the Foreword, Member of the British Psychoanalytical Society, Vice-Chair of WPF's Council of Management

'Physical illness is paradoxically the most intensely psychological of experiences. It can ravage a person's existence or be the source of internal and relational growth and transformation. As this unique book shows, the outcome is not an accidental matter. Therapy can make the difference. This moving, inspiring yet wholly realistic collection of papers will be of huge interest to all therapists and counsellors who work with clients living with any level of physical illness. Its origins may lie in an innovative counselling service for those with severe physical illness, but the import is truly universal. The quality and commitment of the writing is exemplary and the inclusion of clients' voices brings out the deepest meanings of experiences of illness. There is more, though: going beyond the professional area, when I think of those knee-jerk critics of therapy and counselling who say it is self-indulgent or dealing with non-existent issues, I would just love to show them this book.' - Andrew Samuels, Professor of Analytical Psychology, University of Essex