|
The chosen
emblem of Western scientific medicine is the rod and serpent of the Greek god
Asklepios. Its symbolism represents the importance of raising to consciousness
those dark chthonic energies that are essential to “deep” and lasting health. The Snake in the Clinic offers a
critical re-evaluation of the role of psychotherapy in medicine. It questions
the value of quantifiable evidence based practice; pointing out that the
primary aim of this approach is to reduce symptoms rather than to “heal” or “make
whole”. Instead the author proposes that illness is an unavoidable aspect of
the human condition. Psychotherapy's fundamental role is to discover and work
with the energy that underlies and sustains pathology in order to allow it to
find a more direct and conscious expression. It argues that illness is more
than a personal concern and that it is embedded in the social and environmental
context in which it occurs. Worked with in this way illness can have a deeply
healing or “wholing” effect both for the individual and for the society of
which he or she is a part. Drawing on psychological theory, scientific research,
mythology, Buddhist and Eastern ideas, shamanism and case work, it aims to put
our understanding of the work of psychotherapy into a broader global and
historic context. It aims to show how this broader vision relates to everyday
practice with the individuals who come to psychotherapy.
|