Rethinking Psychotherapy

Rethinking Psychotherapy is a new and very thought-provoking critique of the current mental health system and how psychotherapy is practiced.

Paul Hingston originally trained as a lawyer who began working in the financial sector.

He became used to working within a business environment that promoted and celebrated a culture in which a clear focus was maintained on the problem at hand. That also gave great value to the concept of the well-reasoned argument.

After Paul decided to embark on a radical re-think of his career path and to train as a psychotherapist, he was shocked and horrified to discover that there was no such culture within the field of psychotherapy, at all.

Over the last 15 years Paul has been employed as a private practice therapist who has also worked as a front line manager of mental health service providers.

The experiences that he has gained, plus his previous nine years during which he trained at some of the UK's top mental health institutions have combined together to enable him to offer a critique of modern psychotherapy that is worrying, challenging and yet, ultimately, inspiring.

He calls into question some dearly and long-held beliefs. He challenges the efficacy of using a diagnostic approach to the problem of everyday unhappiness.

He also questions the wisdom of, in effect, choosing to label as symptoms of mental illness what are, he asserts, merely perfectly normal and natural reactions to the challenges of life.

Paul believes that modern psychotherapy has it all wrong. Therapists should not, he concludes, provide treatment or encourage introspection. Instead, he avers, they should help clients to learn how to cope with and come to terms with unusual and/or distressing circumstances that they find themselves in by referencing them to a wider social and personal context.

The book will be of great value to all people who work in the field of mental health. It is published by Matador at £9.99 and is available for purchase here >>> https://goo.gl/qPctIy.