ABSTRACT
People not uncommonly drift into the role of therapist long before they would use the word to describe their function. They are those to whom friends intuitively turn for help when distressed. Although psychotherapy and art are profoundly different in some ways, the two pursuits share certain important features. They are both concerned with the pursuit of truth in the personal realm and the search for ways by means of which it can be communicated. The psychotherapist needs to be in a calm frame of mind - relatively free from distracting anxieties, interruptions, or other preoccupations- so that he can approach the other person with peacefulness and attention. He would also need to have some experience of trouble: an awareness of what it feels like to be in anguish and of the ways in which people try to avoid awareness of their anguish.
