The Mystical Power of Person-Centred Therapy Hope Beyond Despair

by Thorne, Brian

• ISBN13: 9781861563286
• ISBN10: 1861563280
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-05-22
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

Brian Thornes latest book is likely to cause something of a furore in the counselling and psychotherapy world and more particularly among person-centred practitioners and pastoral counsellors. The Mystical Power of Person-Centred Therapy takes the later work of Carl Rogers with the utmost seriousness and, as a result, moves into unexpected and perhaps, for some, dangerously controversial terrain. Rogers discovered towards the end of his life that he had greatly underestimated both the mystical quality of the therapeutic process and the power of the person-centred approach to give access to the spiritual dimension of experience. Professor Thorne takes this concept further and explores the implications of regarding person-centred therapy as an essentially spiritual discipline. The outcome is a book which not only provides new and startling challenges for therapists of all orientations but also suggests that the person-centred way of being may have a major contribution to make to the resolution of some of humanitys seemingly intractable problems. It should appeal not only to therapists but also to clergy and all those concerned with the spiritual evolution of humanity. In the light of the events of September 11th 2001 and their aftermath such a book could not come at a more opportune time.

Author Biography

Brian Thorne is Co-founder and Professional Fellow at The Norwich Centre for Personal, Professional and Spiritual Development, Emeritus Professor of Counselling at the University of East Anglia, and a Lay Canon of Norwich Cathedral. Thorne is an internationally recognised figure in the field of person-centred therapy, and was a close colleague of Carl Rogers.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	vii
Prologue	ix
Person-centred therapy since Carl Rogers	1	(8)
The human person: hope or despair?	9	(10)
The therapeutic relationship: professional contract or existential encounter	19	(8)
The person-centred therapist as secular priest and prophet	27	(10)
The spiritual discipline of the person-centred therapist	37	(10)
Person-centred therapy: a key to the resolution of three intractable conflicts	47	(8)
The use of self	55	(10)
Intimacy and sexuality	65	(10)
'Alive alive'	75	(12)
When the world stopped turning	87	(8)
Appendix A secular priest? Alison Leonard interviews Brian Thorne	95	(12)
References	107	(2)
Index	109