Social Casework in Marital Problems: The Development of a Psychodynamic Approach

Red cloth Hardcover. Not ex. library. 199 pages, illustrated. Light spotting on jacket, light tanning and owners name on endpapers. A Study by a Group of Caseworkers: Kathleen Bannister; Alison Lyons; Lily Pincus; James Robb; Antonia Shooter and Judith Stephens. The work of the psychologist has thrown light on the nature of irrational attitudes and unconscious motives that create conflict in society, not least in marriage. Although couples seeking help in their marriage are not usually, psychiatric cases, it is on psychodynamic theory that the approach must be based if an understanding of the factors disruptive of marital harmony is to be acquired by the caseworker and imparted to the client. Psychoanalysts have been careful to avoid the dangers of "de-professionalizing" their skills. There is also danger in denying the fruits of their experience to husbands and wives, who, though in conflict, are not so disturbed as to qualify for counselling or treatment in a psychiatric clinic. But caseworkers, while in no way usurping the functions and prerogatives of the psychiatrist or psychoanalyst, may yet acquire and use, under the guidance of consultants, skills through which the client may be helped to obtain abetter understanding of his often unrecognised attitudes and motives, and thus deal more effectively with his problems. This question is vital for the development of many services concerned with the mental health of the family. Contents clean, binding tight.…