The Talking Cure: Wittgenstein's Therapeutic Method for Psychotherapy

One of Freud's central claims is that our words and actions reveal unrecognised confusions lying at the heart of our relationships with others and the world. Taking Freud at his word and sharing his view of the importance of the 'talking cure', this book demonstrates how the language of Freud and his followers is often so confused as to be therapeutically useless. Drawing primarily on the work of Wittgenstein, John Heaton offers a radically different understanding of the 'talking cure' that engages with the problem of language itself, and its capacity to bewitch both patient and therapist. It holds great importance for therapists of all persuasions who try to make sense of what happens when two people meet to unravel a problem that one of them brings, but is framed within words that may ensnare both participants equally.