With relationships under the ever-increasing stress of modern life*, psychotherapist Rosie March-Smith author of Relationship Therapy: A Therapist’s Tale (Open University Press, June 2011, £17.99) believes we need solutions. With more couples than ever now seeking help, it seems the stigma of therapy may gradually be breaking down, and the key to its success could be in determining the right kind of therapy.
“Most people with rela¬tionship problems are struggling unaware with the impact of long-forgotten childhood lacks”, Rosie says. This contention will perhaps seem outdated by some of the newer disciplines in the therapeutic arena; cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) being one example, whose tenets focus more on problem solving in the present. Although favoured by the NHS for its clear-cut working model, Rosie believes that while CBT can be a good immediate help, it cannot provide lasting solutions for relationships in crisis. Rosie believes we need an approach that has more long-term success than CBT, but that is quicker and cheaper than classical psychoanalysis. In many ways she wants to reinstate the values of the “old-fashioned” theories of analysis but with a modern twist: getting to the heart of the problem within the first few sessions. Relationship Therapy demonstrates how she has put this into practice over the last 20 years.
Relationship Therapy looks at the importance of exploring our early experiences, which Rosie insists is absolutely essential in overcoming relationship difficulties. Unconscious influences, sub-personalities, the legacy of parent–child relationships, thought patterns, trans-generation histories and family myths; all these and more go to make up the way we relate to each other, and these hidden parts of us must be explored, she says, to make real progress in relationship therapy.
The book serves as an insight into what goes on inside the mysterious world of the therapist’s room; demonstrating how Rosie’s therapy works, through extensive clinical sessions, post-therapy interviews and case studies. Topics discussed include accounts of buried memory, the power of the mind, destructive personality types, and how clients have learned to avoid, or overcome relationship crises. Interviewees reveal their deepest feelings, learning to cope with tragedy or with the sadness of inexplicable marital collapse. Case studies include:
• A divorced wife reflects on many years of grieving which served to strengthen and sharpen her instinct for survival.
• The homosexual couple who offer their own solution to coping with the problem of jealousy in a long-term relationship.
• The difficulties experienced in living with a partner diagnosed with such conditions as Alzheimer's Disease, Asperger's Syndrome and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
Relationship Therapy serves as a learning tool for anyone interested in understanding more about the way they relate to others, to themselves, and how relationship therapy could help their relationships.
*Relationship counselling specialists Relate report 66% of their centres have seen an increase in demand for their services as clients feel the impact of the recession.
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Rosie March-Smith is a registered psychotherapist with the UK Council for Psychotherapy, a Member Emeritus of the UK Association of Humanistic Psychology Practitioners and is a founder member of The Dorset Association for Counsellors and Psychotherapists. She has written extensively on education and mental health matters and has been a psychotherapist in private practice for over twenty years.
Relationship Therapy: A Therapist’s Tale by Rosie March-Smith is published by Open University Press in paperback, June 2011, £17.99, 9780335238927. For review copies, an interview with the author, or any further information please contact Verity Holliday, McGraw-Hill, Shoppenhangers Road, Maidenhead, SL6 2QL. Tel: 01628502585 Mob: 07795060680 E: |
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