Against Therapy

Against Therapy
Cover of the 1997 HarperCollins edition
Author	Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson
Country	United States
Language	English
Subject	Psychotherapy
Published	1988 (Common Courage Press)
Media type	Print (hardcover and paperback)
Pages	340
ISBN	1-56751-022-1

Against Therapy: Emotional Tyranny and the Myth of Psychological Healing is a 1988 book by author Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, in which Masson argues against the practice of psychotherapy. The work was criticized by reviewers.

Summary

Masson claims that psychotherapy is a form of socially sanctioned abuse.

According to Masson, therapists ask patients to do more than is reasonably possible, they "distort another person's reality" to try to change people in ways that conform to the therapist's concepts and prejudices. Therapists are, in Masson's opinion, inevitably corrupted by power and "abuse of one form or another is built into the very fabric of psychotherapy".

Reception

Time magazine wrote, "Although the author's slash-and-burn style of argument can be entertaining, readers should keep their hands on their wallets. Assertions tend to be sold as established facts."^[1] The New York Times argued that "Masson has failed to put a stake through the heart of therapy - in fact, he's greatly missed the mark."^[2] Psychiatric Times called Against Therapy "a "battle cry" for the abolition of psychotherapy".^[3]

References

↑ Gray, Paul (22 August 1988). "The Shrink Has No Clothes". TIME. Retrieved 2009-07-15.
↑ Collins, Glenn (13 November 1988). "Back alleys of psychodynamics". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-07-15.
↑ Lothane, Z (1 December 1996). "Psychoanalytic Method and the Mischief of Freud-Bashers". Psychiatric Times. 13 (12).

External links

Against Therapy Author's site
Against Therapy World Library Catalog

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