SETTING OUT: THE IMPORTANCE OF THE BEGINNING IN PSYCHOTHERAPY AND COUNSELLING

Lesley Murdin with Meg Errington, Routledge

ISBN 158391935X, £17.99

STAR RATING 3/5

A detailed and, at times, bewildering book that sweeps across many different theories and dilemmas for psychotherapists, writes Richard Curen. The writers draw heavily on the work of French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan in order to illustrate their thinking.

The most enjoyable part was the section that dealt with the development of a narrative self. The writers use Luke Jackson's book Geeks, Freaks and Asperger's Syndrome and Mark Haddon's Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time to discuss how people with autism experience language and how in therapy "finding the right words" leads to a hope and the possibility of change.

Other chapters cover the difficult issues of diagnosis, contracting, expectations, transference and countertransference, and the therapeutic relationship. Strangely the book ends with a section that looks at psychotherapeutic training and the rigid hierarchy and schism in this field.

An interesting read but primarily for therapists who want to carefully consider the minutiae of their first contact with clients.

Richard Curen is director of Respond, a therapeutic organisation working with people with learning difficulties