Becoming a Therapist: What Do I Say, and Why?

by Suzanne Bender, Edward Messner

This book has been replaced by Becoming a Therapist, Second Edition , ISBN 978-1-4625-4946-7.
 

Genres: Psychology, Psychiatry, Nonfiction, Social Work

332 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Joel]

Certainly a helpful read for navigating the many pieces of the counseling relationship that are not often the subject of focus, the nuts and bolts pieces of discussing billing and late fees, discussing confidentiality, etc. Bender's fictional CE, Sally, is used throughout the book to illustrate how the conversations would be carried out in different situations. This aspect of the book is certainly helpful, as the conversations are very thoughtfully written, many helpful questions are included, and do a solid job of illustrating what Bender seeks to communicate. I found the chapter Management of Impasses particularly helpful, as well as some of the content from Enhancing the Alliance. I have found this to be a useful read with some really important content both communicated and illustrated, even if some sections felt a bit dry to me (the terrain almost requires it).

[Miri]

What a great book! I don't think I've ever found a prescribed text as interesting and useful as this one (I imagine I'll be able to come back to this when encountering various issues with clients).

The title is accurate. This book explains the process of therapy and how to manage a variety of situations. I love the way the book is structured. The book is designed from the start to end of therapy with someone and it's very clear. There's the situation, explanation of what to do and why, followed by an example of dialogue with a client (Sallie) woven throughout the text. And any situations that don't apply to Sallie (e.g., substance use disorder) are then explained with a dialogue using another client.

This is a fantastic text for someone starting out and provides a lot of guidance without being prescriptive. Will be using this as a reference for sure.

[Billie Pritchett]

Suzanne Bender's Becoming a Therapist appears to contain very good and very responsible advice regarding how psychotherapists ought to deal with patients professionally and empathically. The advice is based on the author's own experience and she uses a kind of narrative with a constructed patient throughout the book to show the DOs and DON'Ts with patients.

[Erin Garibaldi]

Really good even though it is based strongly on the medical model and that is not something my program is really focusing on

[Gary]

The best of the dozen introductions to psychotherapy that I read

[Sandy]

Brilliant guide for new therapists, great tips, honest insight and great resource.