Listen Carefully and Other Tales from the Therapy Room (Fiction / Poetry)

This collection of ten fictional short stories invites the reader inside the consulting room, right to the heart of the therapeutic encounter, to witness what goes on between a therapist and his clients as they engage with issues such as racism, sexuality, death and dying, disfigurement, coupledom, the "thrownness" of life and other existential concerns. Based on the author's extensive experience of clinical practice, these stories take us inside the therapist’s mind, into his internal world and the process of his supervision. Whether warm and compassionate, thoughtful and reflective, reactive and critical, or simply flying by the seat of his pants, the therapist is exposed in all his human vulnerability as he draws on his knowledge and experience in his attempts to address the concerns of his clients. These challenging, disturbing and humorous stories provide a rich resource for the reader’s own thinking and discussion--specifically encouraged in the final chapter where the author works through each story presenting themes and theoretical aspects, and provides a series of questions for reflection.Being fictional, these stories escape the confines of a textbook’s clinical case examples and have free rein over the unfolding plot; written by a practicing psychotherapist, they have the ring of authenticity that comes from many years' experience in clinical practice.