Book Review: Shouldn't I Be Feeling Better By Now?
| Published date | 01 December 2006 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/13619322200600042 |
| Pages | 41-42 |
| Date | 01 December 2006 |
| Author | David Crepaz‐Keay |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
The Mental Health Review Volume 11 Issue 4 December 2006 ©Pavilion Jour nals (Brighton) Limited 2006 41
Book Review
Shouldn’t I Be Feeling Better By Now?
ByYvonne Bates
Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005
he author of this review has an attitude
problem and strong opinions; despite this,
the reader may find some of the content
illuminating.
There are those who believe, as a general rule of
thumb, psychiatrybad – therapy good. I am not one
of those people. It is clearly quite possible to seriously
damage someone’s mental health without drugs or
electricity; all you need is one powerful person and
one who is vulnerable. The therapeutic relationship
delivers this to perfection. So it is hardly surprising
that, from time to time, abuse occurs in these
relationships. It is somewhat moresurprising that so
little is written about this and that, relatively speaking,
almost none written by people with personal
experience. The thirdand biggest surprise is that a
profession that likes to portray itself as radical and
empowering has been so stubbornly resistant to
serious ‘client’ involvement.
Given all of this, and the continuing climate of
involvement and choice, you’d think that Shouldn't I
Be Feeling Better By Now?, acollection of pieces by
people who feel damaged by their experience of
therapy and wish to use the experience to improve
things for others, couldn’tpossibly fail. And it doesn’t,
quite.
This is a collection of essays predominately written
by people who have: a) used therapy, often for many
years and mostly at their own cost; b) found the
experience anywherebetween somewhat unhelpful
and downright damaging; and c) wish to use their
experience to improve what happens to those who
follow them.
The stories people tell arestrong and well written.
Their analyses are both provocative and useful, and
the range and depth of experiences collected should
offer both the incentive and opportunity to make
some serious progress in one of the last places in
mental health to seriously engage with its service
users. They cover key issues in psychotherapy and I’m
sure many people will find these experiences of great
value when considering whether therapy is for them,
and how they can judge its effectiveness as they
proceed through treatment. The book doesn’t just
define therapists’ jargon; it explains it in practical and
graphic detail. It is proudly partial and constitutes a
small step towards a balanced debate about therapy.
The book is well referenced for those who want to
explorethe area further.
The real difficulty I have with this book is the
editing, or to be moreprecise, the editor. Yvonne Bates
has collected some really good material. It may well be
one of the best collections of ‘client’ views to be
published. This is a decent achievement and, were it
mine, I’d be happy to provide the lightest editorial
touch and let people speak for themselves. I may, if I
felt strongly enough, provide my own chapter to sit
alongside those of other people. The editor of this book
does not believe in a light touch. The fact that she
openly acknowledges that she is self-absorbed and likes
(the literaryequivalent of) the sound of her own voice
does not make it any less irritating for the rest of us.
There are times when I almost believe that it’s a
cunning device to ensurethat the reader favours the
clients’ views (represented by the bulk of the
contributors) over the therapists’ (the editor is a self-
confessed therapist). But these times arefew and far
between. My overwhelming feeling is that she is
simply convinced that her readers need an awful lot of
help and that she, the professional, can guide us
through it. This could be because she sees her target
readership as therapists and she has a very low opinion
of their ability to read without help.
T
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