Relationship Therapy

Relationship difficulties are talked about in consulting rooms every day, everywhere: difficulties with partners, peers, children, parents, siblings and workmates. Often the reason for distress is obvious - domestic violence and alcohol abuse being two examples - but there is a myriad of less dysfunctional but equally destructive causative factors lying behind that first step to seek professional help. Psychotherapists and counsellors have different training disciplines to meet these relationship problems, yet discovering the core issues as soon as possible must be central to any exploration. Using her humanistic and integrative approach to pinpoint these issues, Rosie March-Smith sets out to guide practitioners working with both couples and individuals through the layers of psychological defences and entrenched belief systems clients present. Only when - and if - they understand the barriers to emotional well-being can their healing begin. The past holds the clues: unearthing childhood hurt, however slight, is crucial to the work, as Relationship Therapy compellingly illustrates. Combining the long-established theories of the psychodynamic with brief therapy techniques, this book seeks to meet the needs of the twenty first century, where both approaches can successfully run in tandem.