The Man with the Beautiful Voice. And More Stories from the Other Side of the Couch

 The Man with the Beautiful Voice. And More Stories from the Other Side of the Couch
 Lillian B Rubin,
 Piatkus Books
 ISBN 0749924148,
 £9.99

 STAR RATING: 3/5

What goes on in the therapist’s mind during a psychotherapy session? asks David O’Driscoll. This account, by an experienced therapist and writer, is her 12th book, but is Rubin’s first “fictional” account.

There are eight stories in total, all true, but with identifying information changed. The first chapter, “Doing therapy”, and the last, “What makes therapy work?”, are her philosophy of psychotherapy and the most interesting, while the other chapters are less engaging case studies.

In “Doing therapy” Rubin writes about why she was drawn to psychotherapy, “a mid-life career change”. She writes about her studentship and her struggles to make her way in the therapy world. Rubin outlines this further in “What makes therapy work?” writing on the limits of psychotherapy. The importance of the relationship is central to her therapeutic approach, what she called the “therapeutic act rather then the therapeutic word”.

The most interesting case study was the “The man with the beautiful voice”, about a man struggling to deal with his physical disability. As someone who has worked for many years in disability psychotherapy, this is perhaps most suitable as an introduction to psychotherapy.

David O’Driscoll is assistant director of learning difficulties charity Respond