Letters to a Young Therapist: Stories of Hope and Healing

I will frequently recommend this book to colleagues, students, clients and friends. Much like Dr. Yalom's books this is an easy but powerful read. Dr. Pipher understands therapy at a meaningful and complete level. She even manages to present cognitive therapy in a humanistic and sensitive context! Her frequent metaphors tend to be right on the money and her observations on issues through the generations were also very enlightening. Summarily, you get the sense that there is a very authentic and experienced person writing this book and you get a rare opportunity to experience the potential of psychotherapy.

As a Social Worker in private psychotherapy practice, I find that sometimes the work can be isolating and at times I question whether I should make more of an effort to consider the latest trends in psychotherapy. Mary Pipher affirms that the classic skills that make a good therapist such as compassion, empathy, listening skills, reframing and the ability to induce a sense of calm are timeless. Furthermore, even if I wasn't a therapist I think I would still devour this book because her writing is a pleasure to read. I highly recommend it for anyone just starting their career in therapy or those who have been in the field for decades. This book is bound to become a classic!

As a grad student in a counseling program, I picked up this book after hearing a portion of Ms. Pipher's interview with Diane Reams on NPR. I read this book in two evenings. It has a lot of good advice, not just for therapists, but also for clients. She has a very soft, nurturing way of writing which I found delightful. I would highly recommend this book.

This little treasure is loaded with wisdom and insights one might expect to find in a much larger tome. Dr. Pipher shares her personal and clinical stories in a gentle friendly way that makes you nod your head, and say "aha". What makes this book so remarkable is that, whether one is a therapist or not, the words spill over and warm you like a down comforter. Pour yourself some hot cocoa, take a deep breath, and read this one slowly. You'll be glad you did.-Terry Matlen, ACSW

Like JB Pontalis's WINDOWS (with which this book makes an interesting comparison in cultural styles), LETTERS TO A YOUNG THERAPIST is an engaging and lucid look at one clinical psychologist's beliefs, both idiosyncratic and professional. More mature than self-help, less obscure than psychological theory, this one-day-read is ennobling and charming. Pipher writes with dignity about her profession's limitations and how an awareness of those limitations opens up vital possibilities. The format -- brief letters to a therapst-in-training, focused on a specific theme -- is lovely, and the insights, while not revelatory, are deftly articulated. In fact, that the book's insights are not revelatory is in a way its overall theme, and its pleasure. This is a humble, humane, and helpful book.