A Safe Place: A Glimpse into the Private World and Complex Relationship of Patient and Therapist

Leston Havens

ISBN 10: 0345370600 / ISBN 13: 9780345370600

Published by Ballantine Books, 1991

About this Item

The item is in good condition and works perfectly, however it is showing some signs of previous ownership which could include: small tears, scuffing, notes, highlighting, gift inscriptions, and library markings.

Seller Inventory # 4BQW090001YI

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A Safe Place: A Glimpse into the Private World and Complex Relationship of Patient and Therapist
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Publication Date: 1991
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0345370600
• ISBN 13: 9780345370600
• Binding: paperback
• Condition: Good

About this title

Synopsis

Addressing the needs of professionals and laypersons, this study attempts to locate and describe the elusive therapeutic environment within which psychological healing most effectively occurs

From the Back Cover

In a world that seems increasingly complex, even hostile, many of us yearn for a place where we can be totally accepted, where grievances great and small can be aired, old hurts and secret foibles disclosed to another trusting human being. To find such a place, and such a person, could give us the safety and freedom we need to be who we really are.  In this beautifully written, meticulously thoughtful book, psychiatrist Leston Havens declares that a safe place does exist--indeed must exist--in the therapist's office as the process of healing takes place. With great empathy for his patients, Dr. Havens takes readers into the mind of the therapist as he does his careful work: the kind of thinking he must do during sessions, how he must sometimes hold back for the patient's good, deal with his own feelings appropriately, or provoke in order to enlighten.  As he narrates his experience with a variety of patients--a highly emotional college student, a physician preoccupied by death, a schizophrenic seminary student, and others--Dr. Havens describes the challenge of creating a safe place for people who are wary, forlorn, and sick at heart. And in his capable hands, the idea of a safe place is explored in ways that can be translated to life outside the treatment session. In doing so, he teaches all of us the quality of mind required to establish a safe place for ourselves, and for others.