Publisher's Synopsis
This book was written with the interests and needs of counsellors and self-help enthusiasts in mind. By the generic label, 'counsellors', I mean to include: Counsellors, psychotherapists, certain types of coaches, psychologists, psychoanalysts, psychiatrists, social workers, and so on. The content will also be helpful for students of any of those disciplines, and also for self-help enthusiasts who want to understand themselves better, and to change their mental organization for the better.My assumption is that a high proportion of counsellors cares deeply about helping their clients, for which purpose they hunt high and low for new, helpful models, techniques and strategies to help with the broad range of issues and problems that their clients bring to them.This book involves a review of four of the most influential models of mind - or theories of human mental functioning - in the history of psychology. Those models were developed by: - Plato (and we'll take a quick look at Aristotle's deviation); - Sigmund Freud (and we'll take a peek at Melanie Klein's deviation); - Eric Berne (who created Transactional Analysis, and the Parent-Adult-Child model); and: - Albert Ellis (who created the ABC model of human disturbance).In addition to comparing and contrasting those four models against each other, I will also present my own innovations (which were influenced by a range of theorists, including those above; plus neuroscience; moderate Buddhism; moderate Stoicism; and more recent innovators, like Allan Schore [Affect regulation theory]; and Daniel Siegel [Interpersonal Neurobiology ]).By reviewing the main models of mind created by Plato, Freud, Berne and Ellis, I hope to throw up new possibilities for counsellors; new ways of thinking (and feeling) about the human condition; new concepts and models for action and reflection in the counselling room, and in running our lives. My experience of counselling, psychotherapy and psychoanalysis goes back to 1968, when I completed a partial Freudian analysis, and I have studied thirteen different system of counselling and therapy since that time; and I am in my 21st year in private practice as an emotive-cognitive narrative therapist. I have a doctoral degree in counselling from the University of Manchester, and I have researched and written papers and books on the subject of Lifestyle Counselling and Holistic Counselling.
