Therapy's Delusions: The Myth of the Unconscious and the Exploitation of Today's Walking Worried: Amazon.co.uk: Ethan Watters, Richard Ofshe: Books

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Synopsis
Two authors assert that Freudian-based psychotherapy and therapeutic dependence on the subconscious mind are totally ineffective.

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A challenging and important critique of psychotherapy, 11 Aug 1999

By A Customer

This book forced me to rethink many ideas about psychotherapy and even 20th Century culture. Calling for increased accountability for psychotherapists, the authors document how psychotherapeutic techniques have damaged mentally ill individuals. They also present the process of psychotherapy as one of manipulation and delusion - storytelling that deliberately encourages the confusion of fiction with fact.

A critique focused on behalf of mentally ill and so-called "walking worried" individuals, Therapy's Delusions may prove difficult for functional people in crises (the walking wounded?) who need no reminder of the complexities of the human mind. Compelling, and challenging to many 20th Century assumptions, the book raises fascinating questions, for example whether it's a fool's game for humans to even attempt to understand themselves.

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An important idea used to critique psychotherapy, 1 Aug 1999

By A Customer

This is an important, well written, well argued, and devastating critique of psychotherapy. If it's wrong, the points made need careful refuting. If it's right, it's a substantive contribution to better understanding how we think and should have consequences in the worlds of medicine and law.

It's curious that there've been no reviews of "Therapy's Delusions" yet in amazon.com. This is a highly charged issue and I'd expected to see a lively debate here. Perhaps this review will encourage (incite?) submissions.

My short version of the basic premise is that people do not always think rationally, that we can be influenced by others to believe things that are simply false (actually, of course, we don't need others for this), and that this is much of what goes on in the forms of therapy they critique.

They have gotten ahold of an important idea and are continuing to make very good use of it. Ofshe and Watters have previously written a book alleging serious damage done by advocates of recovered memories. "Therapy's Delusions" is a continuation of the arguments raised in their "Making Monsters". Also, not mentioned in "Therapy's Delusions" is work done by Ofshe in finding and freeing people convicted of crimes they confessed to but did not commit; this is basically the same premise applied to another field.

One criticism: Ofshe and Watters use modern medicine as their example for how to go about doing things right. They have too high a regard for its accountability and capabilities. There are studies suggesting that medical malpractice kills about 100,000 people a year in this country.

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Therapy's Delusions: The Myth of the Unconscious and the Exploitation of Today's Walking Worried (Hardcover)

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