Life Within Hidden Worlds: Psychotherapy in Prisons - Softcover

Williams Saunders, Jessica

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1855752190 ISBN 13: 9781855752191

Publisher: Routledge, 2001

Synopsis

I would like to thank Judy Gammelgaard and Andrew Moskowitz for their encouragement, critique, and confidence in me, without which I could not have undertaken the present study. I also wish to thank Jon Frederickson for his generous editorial suggestions, and for his writings, which stimulated my interest in the ego in the first place. Last but not least, I want to thank my friend Joachim Meier for our tireless discussions on subjectivity―a continual source of vitality and inspiration during the years of this book’s conception.

About this title

About the Author:

Jessica Williams Saunders, Registered Dramatherapist, Dip. Forensic Psychotherapy, specialised in forensic work in prisons and special hospital settings as a therapist and clinical supervisor. She has helped devise theatrical productions with her company The Theatre of Reflection. She has authored several publications based on her work as a clinical and theatre practitioner. She currently works as a freelance consultant.

Review:

'Psychoanalytic psychotherapy as a practice is the antithesis of a prison regime. Prisons are hard; psychotherapy is porous, permeable. Echoed throughout this book is the obvious paradox that is being worked when practicing psychotherapy in a prison. The two are worlds apart, yet each can creatively serve the other. What I hope will be apparent is a view that occurs in all the writing: that people who commit crimes against another person are human, not animals, albeit with the capacity to carry out deeply disturbing, dark acts.'- Jessica Williams Saunders, Editor, from her Introduction.'Prisons are not ideal environments in which to practice psychotherapy, but they are places in which it is needed urgently. Unfortunately, too many people do not understand either the need, or what therapy can offer, and ignorance is a powerful enemy of practice.'The Prison Service has the difficult task of attempting to ensure that all needs can be catered for. Its most intractable problem is with those at the extreme end of the difficult, dangerous and disruptive spectrum, whose treatment cannot solely be a matter of control. These are the prisoners whose treatment and needs are described in this book.'Psychotherapy should not be seen as antithetical to the ethos of a prison...it is important that prison staff should understand therapists, and vice versa. The value of Life Within Hidden Worlds is that it helps to fill the gap by explaining, simply yet graphically, the challenges that face therapists. I therefore recommend it strongly.'- Sir David Ramsbotham, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, from his Foreword

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 1855752190
• ISBN 13: 9781855752191
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 118