A perceptive and empathetic psychologist tackles a touchy subject—the role of love in therapy. Finding little solid research on the subject, Baur (The Dinosaur Man, 1991; Confiding, 1994; etc.) uses stories from the past and present to illustrate the various kinds of relationships that form between doctor and patient, therapist and client. She rejects as oversimplified the currently popular view that such erotic entanglements are necessarily instances of a powerful person preying on a weaker one for personal gain. From Jung's lengthy affair with Sabina Spielrein and Otto Rank's obsession with Anaãs Nin to a present- day woman suing her psychiatrist for sexual abuse, the stories she tells show that the nature of the bond is indeed complex. To the question of whether a close bond is essential to effective therapy, and further, whether love should be a part of that bond, Baur's answer is a firm ``yes.'' At their best, she asserts, the feelings of love between therapist and client can be compared to the medieval ideal of courtly love—pure and unfulfilled. Rather than denying the role of love in therapy, it is time, she says, to acknowledge it, to study it. To those alarmed by what they have seen as the increased victimization of female patients, Baur notes that the issue of sex in therapy will gradually disappear as the philosophy of relational therapy, which emphasizes the curative power of the relationship between client and therapist, puts the parties on a more equal footing, and as women increasingly outnumber men as providers of therapy. Another force for change, and one that Baur deplores frequently, is the growth of managed health care, with its limits on therapy and its regulations affecting therapists. The intimate hour, she fears, may be transformed into a brief business transaction. Intriguing ideas about the past and present of psychotherapy for both therapists and those they counsel.
Pub Date: Jan. 8, 1997
ISBN: 0-395-82284-X
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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