ABSTRACT
Psychotherapy has attracted a great deal of social and political comment and this is not surprising. Taken together with self-help literature, the sale of DVDs, and workshops, therapy is a large sector of the economy. A hands-off attitude could deny a client the practical advice and support that would normally be available if therapy were to be more closely modelled on friendship. Some therapies, such as Cognitive behavioural therapy, do stress the collaborative nature of the relationship and the reciprocity of joint problem-solving. Autobiographical accounts are illuminating but they are almost invariably retrospective reconstructions which may refer to events in an earlier historical period. The public image of the therapist seems to have been created largely by film, television, cartoonists, and comedians. Sociological critiques are undertaken by authors who are not therapists themselves, and they may have had no personal experience as a consumer. Frank Furedi’s book Therapy Culture conveys a similar message to Illouz’s, although his style is more polemical.
