Dale, Heather

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University of Huddersfield RepositoryDale, HeatherBook review: The assassin and the therapist: an exploration of truth in psychotherapy and in life, Jeffrey Kottler, Routledge 2010Original CitationDale, Heather (2010) Book review: The assassin and the therapist: an exploration of truth in psychotherapy and in life, Jeffrey Kottler, Routledge 2010. The Independent Practitioner. pp. 18-19.This version is available at http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/9172/The University Repository is a digital collection of the research output of theUniversity, available on Open Access. Copyright and Moral Rights for the itemson this site are retained by the individual author and/or other copyright owners.Users may access full items free of charge; copies of full text items generallycan be reproduced, displayed or performed and given to third parties in anyformat or medium for personal research or study, educational or not-for-profitpurposes without prior permission or charge, provided:• The authors, title and full bibliographic details is credited in any copy;• A hyperlink and/or URL is included for the original metadata page; and• The content is not changed in any way.For more information, including our policy and submission procedure, pleasecontact the Repository Team at: E.mailbox@hud.ac.uk.http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/literature. I liked this – it means thereis more to be had without actuallyinterrupting the practical sessions inthe main text.Another factor is the systemic originsof his approach. While he is good at recognising and acknowledgingalternative theories, it can be a littleunnerving to hear him say, where aparent may be presenting the couplewith problems, ‘You can also invitethe client to bring a parent in for asession.’ While some of his ideas arerefreshingly creative, the reader alsoneeds to be clear about his/herboundaries and, in trying out a newtherapeutic context, not stray intounbounded territory.The book is also written by someoneworking in the US, and references andagencies will sometimes be lessuseful because of their geographicalspecificity. Faced with a suicidal client‘you would arrange for a temporarydetention order so [he] could betaken by the authorities to a hospital’.Not quite that easy!I like his constant reference to processwhere content threatens to overwhelm.I like the use of the developmentalframework for understanding thestages of a relationship. I like his useof the drama triangle, and TA, foranalysing the roles in which eachpartner may have got stuck, and theway the therapist intervenes to‘unstick’ them, and I like his focus onthe relationship as the client, one ofthe major distinctions between coupleand individual therapy.Essentially I think this is a teaching book.As a Relate-trained counsellor, I mightargue with the author’s view that youdon’t need a specialist training toembark on couple work. On the otherhand, many people move into couplework with no real awareness of howdifferent it is. They may be unwillingto opt for a year or more of specialisttraining, so we might be glad thereare books like this to gently but clearlyguide and support the emergence ofcouple work in a wider context. Hestresses the importance of self-awareness and good supervision,relevant reading and short workshoptraining. He also has a very usefulchapter on working with just onepartner, so this book is not solelyrelevant to practitioners with twoother people in the room (oroccasionally, apparently, three). He does also touch on the thornysubject of sex, but rather briefly.Many of us find this area quitedifficult, and the lack of specifictraining might be more problematicthan he admits. His references tosexual abuse are even briefer, and,again, I wonder if he is minimising theimplications of working with clientswhere this is a factor. Certainly nomention of erotic countertransference!In conclusion, a worthwhile andlikeable book with plenty of good,useable material, but less so for theexperienced couple therapist. Unless,of course, you are planning to teachthe subject!Ruth Morgan, senior accreditedcounsellor and supervisorLife scripts: a transactionalanalysis of unconsciousrelational patterns Richard G Erskine (ed) Karnac 2010ISBN 978 1855756625  £23.99 The assassin and thetherapist: an explorationof truth in psychotherapyand in life Jeffrey Kottler Routledge 2010ISBN 978-0415800655  £15.95This quarter I have reviewed twobooks for the delight anddelectation of readers of thisjournal. Interestingly, there is a themethat runs through two otherwisecompletely different books. The themeis to do with the co-creation (primarily,but not necessarily, between therapistand client) of a narrative of the client’slife story, in order to create a largerunderstanding. Consequently I am going to writeabout both books in the same review,and comment on the differing waysthat the same themes are explored.The first book, edited by RichardErskine, who has been a bit of a heroof mine for some time now, is avolume of writing by transactionalanalyst (TA) writers about the TAconcept of scripts, or the life plansthat the theory says that we all writefor ourselves, unconsciously, at a veryyoung age. The thrust of the pieces isto show that understanding of scriptsdevelops from the therapeutic alliance,with client and therapist workingtogether to provide a meaningfulanalysis of the client’s life. In reading the various chapters, I wasreminded of what I both love and hateabout TA. I love the plethora of ideas,and the truly brilliant and original mindsit often attracts. On the other hand, I loathe the self-conscious clevernessthat can be pervasive in the owners ofsome of these minds. The writers inthis edition demonstrate a fair amountof both qualities. However, the needfor some of the authors to prove theirown cleverness by dismissing others ofthe contributors was quite entertaining,if only for the glimpse it gives intothe sometimes murky underworld ofsmall therapeutic organisations.Eric Berne’s original idea was to create atherapy that could be explained simplyenough for everyone to understand.TA writing works best when authorsremember this, and, like Berne, explaincomplex ideas using simple language.This does not happen nearly oftenenough in this volume, with a coupleof honourable exceptions, such as IanStewart, who discusses the ways inwhich suicidal or violent clients leaveopen ways of allowing themselves tocommit suicide or other violent acts17Autumn 2010The Independent Practitioner(‘escape hatches’) or Rosemary Napper,writing about how (psycho) pathologymay have cultural and social aspectsas well as personal and family ones. It was good to see at least one authortaking a wider perspective thanparent-blame for clients’ woes. Each of the 13 chapters has at itscore a case study that illustrates thetheoretical points. This works well insome of the chapters, but in othersappears to be a merely a paean ofpraise to the writer’s own brilliance as a therapist. The first and lastchapters are written (the last co-written) by Erskine himself. The firstchapter is a scholarly review of the(TA) literature on scripts, (or the‘unconscious relational patterns’ ofthe title). The review takes the readeras far as 2005, after which writing onscripts appears to stop, except forErskine himself, as he is the onlyauthor he references after that date.  One problem is that at least some ofthe authors appear to be reprising theirown work, rather than saying anythingnew. The final chapter for instance,discusses a theoretical concept (Racketsystem) that Erskine first wrote about13 years ago. Some of the writers hadclearly not done their research properly:for example, a chapter by ClaudeSteiner, a very venerable figure in theTA world, is called ‘Then and Now’, butthere is only just over a page devotedto ‘now’ and only three references towritings this century. Not so much‘Now’ as ‘Then’. Given that the foreword describes the book as ‘an exciting collection ofcontemporary writing’ I thought thatthis was sloppy, as well as disappointing.However, there did appear to be someoriginal work such as the chapter byHeiller and Sills, who discuss thenotion of a life plan as a method ofdealing with existentialist angst.Jeffrey Kottler’s book also has at itscore an extended case study – butnot of a client. The case study is of aman (Jacob) whom the author meetsalmost by chance. Kottler is at a stageof his life when ‘things are not goingwell’ and Jacob is at the stage of lifewhen he needs an audience to listento his story. Each needs the other:Jacob, coming to the end of his life,needs to tell the extraordinary storyof his life; Kottler needs something tolift him out of a near-depression, andin his own words, he becomes obsessedwith the story. Out of their jointneed, they co-create the narrative ofJacob’s life, a startling account of ayoung man’s experiences working forwhat he believes to be the Israeliarmy in the late 1940s. It is the story of an American Jew,growing up in the 1940s, who isgroomed to join the Israeli army, as partof an elite, though totally expendablesmall force of youngsters. Once trained,both to work as a team, and in theirtrade of murder, the boys’ job is towork out how to assassinate thepeople they are told to target. This part of the book, while based onyear-long interviews, is, in part at least,a confessed work of fiction. Kottlerspent some time researching and addingdetails to the story in order to makeit more readable. As a result, this halfof the book reads as if it is a shortstory. Between the two of them,Jacob and Kottler construct a startlingnarrative, which reads as well as anydetective story I have come across. It may not be exactly true, but it isnot exactly a work of fiction either.There are some discrepanciesbetween Jacob’s and Kottler’s versions.In Jacob’s version of the story, he ispicked for his intelligence, and reliedupon by his superiors, for his quick-wittedness in difficult spots. Kottler,however sees him as ‘not that bright’.This makes the interesting pointabout the nature of truth, which isnot really explored by any of theauthors in the Erskine volume. Thequestion is not only whether ourclients are telling us the truth, butwhether their truth is believable tothe listener.Whatever the reality, Kottler entersJacob’s internal world. One twist is to do with the fact that Jacob is not a client – and the normal rules aretherefore not in place. For example,they regularly meet in a café, andthere is no time limit to theirconversations. Jacob is desperate totell his story, and, later, Kottler becomesdesperate to publish it, though this isvetoed by Jacob at first. He is reluctantto allow the story to be published,but ultimately agrees. Jacob’s story is all about deception.His job for the Israelis is to do withgetting close to people defined asthe enemy, and then assassinatethem. As the book unfolds, Kottlershares his belief that he too becamethe victim of an assassination attack– though on his emotional ratherthan physical self.Kottler becomes increasinglyconcerned about whether the story is true or not. Consequently thesecond half of the book becomes a series of short essays in whichKottler muses on the nature of truthand falsehood in the therapeuticrelationship. He offers reasons clientsmight lie in therapy (lack of trust, fearof humiliation, fear of disappointingthe therapist). He also explores theunconscious dynamics betweenhimself and Jacob that would make it possible for Jacob’s story to beuntrue.This half is written with searinghonesty. Kottler does not flinch fromexamining his own part in co-creatinga story that may (or may not) be a lie.It is this honesty that is missing fromthe TA book. There are some interestingconcepts here, such as Maria TeresaTosi commenting that scripts shouldbe seen as a changing dynamic ratherthan a static system, or HelenaHargaden’s detailed examination ofthe importance of the relationship in one therapeutic relationship.However, the wisdom of using onecase study as a way of making severaltheoretical points may not be verywise, and is certainly no longer seenas sound practice. So here we have two books, bothinterested in looking at the consciousand unconscious dynamics of the18Autumn 2010 The Independent Practitionertherapeutic relationship. Erskine’s idea has been to invite writers tocontribute to a volume loosely boundaround a common theme. The writershave been chosen as experts in theirchosen fields, so perhaps they did notneed to show off their skills quite soovertly. The book does set out to dowhat it says in the title: to analyse theunconscious patterns in the therapeuticrelationship. In practice, this often,but not always, means an examinationof different ways of understandingthe unconscious dynamics betweentherapist and client.I am not sure that I have learnedanything new about scripts, but I haveenjoyed some of the case studies. Ihave been reminded about the powerof the transferential relationship.However, I expect the book will be ofinterest to those new to TA, if onlyfor the pleasure of having so manyrevered figures writing in one volume.Kottler, too, has done what he set outto do. He has written a story whichinvites the reader to consider theirown practice, and the place in that,not only of falsehood and truth, butthe therapist’s role in that. He haspeppered the second half with casestudies, which are short enough tohold the attention, but often showhim struggling or confused, as indeedhe is with Jacob, and as indeed I amvery often in my own practice.For those primarily interested in TA,and in old and new theory on thedevelopment of script, the Erskinebook may be essential reading.For those interested in looking moredeeply at the nature of the unconsciousplay of forces between therapist andclient, go to Kottler. The question thereader is left with at the end is this. Is Jacob’s story real, or were the twoof them complicit in developing awork of fiction? Perhaps we should beasking that of ourselves more often.Heather Dale, MBACP (Snr Accred),counsellor, psychotherapist andsupervisor in private practice; seniorlecturer, University of Huddersfield;Fellow, BACPWorking with young women:activities for exploringpersonal, social andemotional issues (2nd ed)Vanessa RogersJessica Kingsley Publishers 2010 ISBN 978 1849050951  £17.99This revisededition of a book firstpublished in 2006,has updatedactivities, additionalresources and anextra section ongender andstereotyping. Vanessa Rogers hasextensive experience of working withyoung people in various settings, haswritten many resources and runs awebsite giving more informationabout creative youth work and socialeducation (www.vanessarogers.co.uk).The book is a helpful and livelyresource for working with youngwomen, pulsing energy and generatingthought and discussion for participants.Clearly marked pages indicatepermission to copy and use in relationto the group sessions which seek tohelp young women from 13-19 yearsold in settings as various as youthgroups, clubs, schools and colleges,for PSHE teachers, youth offendingteams and for voluntary sector youthleaders. Some activities can beadapted for people working withthose who have special educationalneeds.A comprehensive introductionacquaints the reader with the kinds ofquestions likely to arise around groupwork with young women. Practicaladvice for setting up groups, size, ageappropriateness, and compatibility,for example. The author’s guidanceincludes how to build up a history ofwhat has been achieved in the groupwork sessions by using photos, collageand other creative ventures. This affirmsthe work undertaken by participantsand provides evidence of the benefitsfor future reference. Also included ishow to measure success; validatingthe achievements, aims and objectivesin a collaborative way; and evaluatingboth quantitative and qualitativeevidence from all participants.The major part of the book comprisesa range of activities designed tofacilitate self-awareness, expression,communication and interpersonalexchange, underpinned by ‘groundrules’ of respect, confidentiality andpersonal responsibility. It coversGetting Started, Self-Esteem, BodyImage, Healthy Lifestyles, PositiveRelationships, Gender and Stereotypes,Endings, with a list of more resourcesat the end of the book. This could be a much-used resourcein many different settings because ofits recognition of issues involved andits versatility. The energy and optimismunderpinning the activities fit thereality of young women with futureselves to develop. Some of theseexercises can be adapted for use on aone-to-one basis in counselling sessionsto promote further exploration ofissues arising.This book recognises and addresses theenergy radiating from young womenand provides a wealth of activities toembrace the many areas of life and selfwith which they are living, encountering,struggling with or coming to termswith. The variety of activities meansgreat potential, great scope fordeveloping all group members’awareness of self, individual needs,traits, highlighting positive attributesand finding support from others,identifying with the difficulties ofothers, and discovering similarities.This is a lively, stimulating contributionto this area of work, with awarenessof the differing levels of literacy andprovision for alternative methodssuch as art work, colours, music, as ways of working effectively.Encouraging groups to seek outinformation in the community as away of informing themselves, andhow to do this, for example, gatheringleaflets, a ‘treasure hunt’ of healthservices, drugs, STDs , promotes theindependence and self efficacy ofyoung women, introducing them tothe ways in which we find out whathelp and information is available.19Autumn 2010The Independent Practitioner

Book review: The assassin and the therapist: an exploration of truth in psychotherapy and in life, Jeffrey Kottler, Routledge 2010

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