ABSTRACT
This chapter provides some final thoughts about the book’s central themes. It reiterates what are suggested are the key features that lead to emotional change and growth. It suggests that the root of change lies in compassionate, thoughtful relationships. It describes ways in which personal issues and our own histories and blind spots affect our countertransference and our ability to be present to our patients. It suggests that while therapeutic protocols, techniques, methodologies and schools of thought can be helpful, they are never enough. Therapeutic workers also need to grope in the dark, embrace uncertainty and ‘negative capability’ (Keats, 1899), take risks and face the most difficult aspects of ourselves and others. It suggests that ultimately it is relationships, with ourselves and others, which are the curative factor.
