Psychotherapy and Politics

Nick Totton is a psychotherapist, group leader and trainer in private practice in Leeds. Originally a Reichian practitioner, he currently uses and teaches his own synthesis, Embodied-Relational Therapy, drawing on psychoanalytic, process-oriented and humanistic elements. He is a founder participant in the Independent Practitioners Network and a member of the European Association for Body Psychotherapy.

Introduction Psycho-Politics Entering the 21st Century PART ONE: PSYCHOTHERAPY IN POLITICS `Right' and `Left' Therapists up to 1945 Alternative Realities Therapy for the People Deconstructing Mental Illness Conflict and Community Pressing for Policy Changes Conclusion to Part One PART TWO: PSYCHOTHERAPY OF POLITICS Culture on the Couch Psychohistory and the Family Gender and Sexuality The Roots of Hatred Conclusion to Part Two PART THREE: POLITICS OF PSYCHOTHERAPY Psychotherapy under Totalitarianism Psychotherapy in the Public Eye The Institutions of Psychotherapy Challenging the Institutions of Psychotherapy Conclusion to Part Three PART FOUR: POLITICS IN PSYCHOTHERAPY Challenging Bias and Ideology Challenging the Therapeutic Relationship Beyond Therapy? Conclusion to Part Four

`This book bristles with challenges, is richly referenced, rigorously and compellingly argued. Its interest for student counsellors is in helping us to understand the politics of our own positions, both institutional and ideological' - Counselling and Psychotherapy Journal `This stimulating addition to SAGE's catalogues aims to give the practisng counsellor/therapist a multi-dimensional overview of the various ways in which the political and psychotherapeutic worlds interface' - Association for University and College Counselling Newsletter `This is a truly outstanding book. In a world riven with anger, hatred, fear and aggression it provides a window of rationality, inspired by intelligence, understanding and humanistic principles' - The Journal of Critical Psychology, Counselling & Psychotherapy `SAGE's invariably stimulating book series 'Perspectives in Psychotherapy', edited by Colin Feltham, is certainly fortunate to be graced by the latest addition from Nick Totton, who offers us a tour de force of the diverse and manifold ways in which therapy and politics interpenetrate and inform each other' - Richard House, Self & Society