Therapeutic Oxymoron Laid to Rest

Posting has been a little light lately as I discover, like 60 million bloggers before me, the inverse relationship between blogging and work.

In the mail this week is Paul Gilbert and Robert Leahy’s new book titled: The Therapeutic Relationship in the Cognitive Behavioral Therapies.

I’ve been holding the book up to everybody who comes to my office over the week with a range of responses from “unbelievable” to “about time". I have to say I was delighted to see this title which I see as a sign of the rounding out and maturing of cognitive approaches to therapy.

I know my headline will invoke some criticisms from the Cognitive Therapists. However looking through all the books on cognitive therapy in our clinic (and we have a lot) I could not find one that had a chapter on the therapeutic relationship except for the more in-depth DBT and Schema Therapy books.

…….there may be a grain of truth in the observation that many of us who utilize CBT could do a better job of understanding and working with the therapeutic relationship.

A full review in a week or two when I have had time to read it through.