Abstract

`My congratulations to Colin Feltham for assembling a set of contentious issues and lively authors which together made me forget my surroundings' - Person-Centred Practice

`Editor Colin Feltham's choice of topics shows an astute, on-the-ground awareness of the issues that dog the industry, while still making lively reading' - New Therapist

In this book, leading practitioners, critics and commentators take sides on many topical and core debates including:

· Theoretical issues: Does the unconscious really exist? Is birth trauma a fiction? Should one believe in `false memories'?

· Clinical issues: Is therapy effective? Is `the relationship' central to success? Do therapists pathologize their clients? Are boundaries necessary?

· Professional issues: Do trainees need therapy? Is professionalization of the field desirable? Are counselling and psychotherapy really distinguishable?

· Social issues: Can therapy be proven necessary? Does therapy benefit individuals or contribute to social control? Does stress really exist?
`The book is written in a lucid conersational style and while it is accessible to non-specialists, few concessions are made for those who do not share the underlying tenets on which it is based.... Controversies in Psychotherapy and Counselling stands as a refreshing antidote to all those mutually affirming books on therapy. A little more grit of this sort may just help to make therapy the mature and socially beneficial pearl it potentially could be' - Journal of Critical Psychology, Counselling and Psychotherapy

`Editor Colin Feltham's choice of topics shows an astute, on the ground awareness of the issues that dog the industry, while still making lively reading' - New Therapist

`My congratulations to Colin Feltham for assembling a set of contentious issues and lively authors which together made me forget my surroundings' - Person-Centred Practice