Love and Therapy

'Can a therapist really love all their clients? Is universal love a meaningful idea at all? Some might hold it as an ideal to love all others the same, but a person who is treated the same as all others does not feel loved. Love has something to do with making the love object special. To treat everyone the same may be a worthy value of social administration in a democratic society, but is that love? Is not love something about honouring the uniqueness of the individual and standing alongside them, even in struggles against other individuals. Is not love about taking sides? Can love and political correctness be reconciled? Should they be, or is there a necessary tension or even conflict between them? Is therapy a form of social administration and control or is it about liberation therefrom? A book of this kind has an almost limitless field. To reflect on such matters is also a kind of love and, one hopes, may lead us to dissolve at least some of the barriers to this most important of perennial mysteries.'--From the Foreword by David Brazier, president at International Zen Therapy Institute'This is a courageous and valuable book which carefully considers the part love plays in the therapeutic process from a diverse range of viewpoints. It will be of great interest to all whose work has a therapeutic perspective.'--William West, Visiting Professor at the University of Chester, author of Spiritual Issues in Therapy