A Safe Place: Laying the Groundwork of Psychotherapy

This work would have been a more positive rating if Dr. Havens' writing style were a bit more fluent. Nevertheless, this is a one of a kind text addressing in each chapter a single therapeutic issue. A chapter titled "Freud's Gift," for example, is about the therapeutic use of silence. Is there that much to say on such a topic? So I have learned from Dr. Havens, who draws out his subject matter with the skill of Georgia OÌKeefe bringing a flower to life on canvas In his comparing psychotherapists to physicians, we fare poorer on the task of unearthing information of our patient's health. Physicians conduct a variety of tests to determine a patient's well being as a precursor to any medical intervention. No respectable surgeon, for example, would start operating before knowing if the patient is healthy enough to undergo the procedure. Lacking such medical calculations we psychotherapists too often fall victim to a more morbid view of those who seek our help. Healing is often the result of careful effort to find and bring to the surface clients' strengths and naming them thus resurrecting what was buried like "an anointing at a christening"

"Scratch most people," says Havens, "and you will usually find one conviction: no one quite understands how much there is to put up with" (p. 97).If you're in psychotherapy, learning to conduct therapy, or just interested in therapy, here's an interesting read.Havens interweaves case studies with theory and lets us in on his thought processes as a therapist. This is a valuable thing for both psychotherapists (in training or otherwise... and shouldn't psychotherapists always be in training?) and their clients.Havens follows Freud and Sullivan but mentions them as much for their limitations as for their accuracies.The book provides intriguing insight into how therapists think about therapy, how they go about creating a "safe psychological place" for the people they work with. Reads like a novel (or series of stories) with thoughtful commentary interspersed. The reader comes away reassured that therapists are fallible, therapists have questions, and therapists care.