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Overview
In the therapeutic workplace, the interaction between patient and therapist is built upon cognitive, affective and expressive experiences. This book explores the concept of therapeutic presence, and the therapist's ability to maintain it. The theory integrates a creative framework that synthesizes traditional and non-traditional approaches to treatment, and will be of use to all mental health professionals. Since therapeutic presence calls for an openness and awareness of the intersubjective space between therapist and patient, therapists, who become receptive to the subtle cues of sensory perceptual communication, as well as to the playful, mirroring, and meditative interaction, will find more successful and meaningful interactions with patients.Therapeutic presence requires a sensitivity to the concepts of centering and grounding, embodies the spatial and temporal characteristics of the therapeutic frame, and an experience of energy that may open, shut down, or disrupt the field of therapeutic contact. This stance can be applied to therapeutic modalities ranging from psychoanalysis to creative arts therapy, in work with both short and long term populations. The author suggests that the full use of the therapist's creative nergies may provide the only solution to overwhelming therapeutic situations.
The book contains black-and-white illustrations.
Synopsis
In the therapeutic workplace, the interaction between patient and therapist is built upon cognitive, affective and expressive experiences. This book explores the concept of therapeutic presence, and the therapist's ability to maintain it. The theory integrates a creative framework that synthesizes traditional and non-traditional approaches to treatment, and will be of use to all mental health professionals. Since therapeutic presence calls for an openness and awareness of the intersubjective space between therapist and patient, therapists, who become receptive to the subtle cues of sensory perceptual communication, as well as to the playful, mirroring, and meditative interaction, will find more successful and meaningful interactions with patients.
Therapeutic presence requires a sensitivity to the concepts of centering and grounding, embodies the spatial and temporal characteristics of the therapeutic frame, and an experience of energy that may open, shut down, or disrupt the field of therapeutic contact. This stance can be applied to therapeutic modalities ranging from psychoanalysis to creative arts therapy, in work with both short and long term populations. The author suggests that the full use of the therapist's creative nergies may provide the only solution to overwhelming therapeutic situations.