ABSTRACT
This book is drawn from a range of experiences and ideas. On the one hand, there is my work as a group psychotherapist working with patient and client groups, student groups and groups of trainee counsellors. On the other, there is my work as a sociologist, as a teacher of and writer about modern social theory. It is a study of the nature of identity in contemporary society, and a critique of the place of psychotherapy in our society. It is also a defence of psychotherapy, against those who would dismiss it wholesale: for all its faults and problems, I will argue that it still has something important to offer, but that something often runs counter both to what people might hope to gain from psychotherapy and to a current of expectations and ways of thinking in the wider culture and society.
