Talking Cures: A History of Western and Eastern Psychotherapies

by C. Peter Bankart

This beautifully-written book uniquely shows how underlying socio-cultural constructs support and inform the way therapy is provided across a wide variety of cultures and eras. Ideal as a supplement to typical theories of counseling and psychotherapy books as well as to traditional history of psychology books, Talking Cures ultimately helps students and practicing therapists understand the strength of all psychotherapies in terms of their power to help clients become more free through the process of achieving a clear understanding of both one's self and one's world. Emphasizing the historical, philosophical, gender, and cultural foundations of psychotherapy, Bankart examines how and why therapists of different persuasions operate as they do.

Genres: Counselling, Nonfiction

494 pages, Hardcover

First published August 9, 1996

Reviews

[Tracey Gagne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book was well-done, particularly for a textbook. The author is self-disclosing, which I appreciate, and he's accessible, as I looked him up online and sent him an email to which he responded promptly. From this book, I was able to learn connections between different thinkers who had been "just names" before. I liked how he made connections between different forms of therapy that hadn't been made in previous books I'd read.

Bravo!

[Vipul Agarwal · Rating 5 out of 5]

good book