ABSTRACT
In the 1880s a young Viennese physician was trying to establish himself as a specialist in so-called nervous diseases. Enduring extreme mood swings himself, he tried everything – from cocaine to electrotherapy and hypnosis – to help himself and his patients suffering from hysteria. Gradually, he abandoned all these props and realised that listening and talking to a patient is what really mattered. The interaction between patient and therapist seemed to have a curative power. His name, of course, was Sigmund Freud and the ‘talking cure’ was born. However, his approach was very unusual for that time and it took a while to be accepted by the medical and scientific establishment. Just over a hundred years later, it is estimated that there are over 400 different approaches to one-to-one practice. In this book we will refer to some of these approaches as well as the methods and techniques that they use, so it may be helpful to start with a brief overview of the field.
