Saturday, June 9, 2012

A Healer's Story

I picked up The Man With the Beautiful Voice, along with Foucault's The Order of Things, at the dump Swap Shop this morning (no kidding; in this UNH student and professor bedroom town we have a very cultured dump).  In TMWTBV, Lillian B. Rubin gives a good picture of how she works as a therapist.  For her, the relationship is most important.  She talks about being responsive to your own feelings, as well as those of the person with whom you are working.  She talks about teaching skills for self-awareness and managing ourselves and our world more effectively.  She gives examples from the therapy experiences of herself, her brother, and several people with whom she has worked.  For her, a diagnosis only tells part of the story.  There are good discussions of forgiveness, insight, and the limits of what therapy can be expected to do.  If you see people for therapy, you should read this, even if you can't find it for free at your local dump.