Customer Reviews
An Antidote to Therapy - By: B. W. Jenner, 02 Jul 2006 
I work as a speechwriter & I love this type of book because it's full of quotable stuff.
Lines like, 'You are free to do whatever you like. You need only face the consequences.'
or, 'You can't make anyone love you. You just have to reveal who your are & take your chances.'
He illustrates his theories using some of the Great Classics of Western Literature - Chaucer's Wife of Bath, Kafka's The Castle, John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress & Shakespeare's Macbeth.
The thrust of the book is 'The secret is that there is no secret'. We must alll face our problems, there are no real gurus with alll the answers. Life is complex, difficult, unpredictable, confusing - fun sometimes - harrowing & depressing at others. We have to find temporary solutions in ourselves. Stories, maxims & metaphors help us do this. It alll ends with Kopp's Laundry List - a number of short phrases which sum up his theses. A super book.
Excellent comments on the process of psychotherapy. - By: , 20 Feb 1999 Sheldon B. Kopp is an experienced pyschotherapist & has written a very insightful commentary on the process & journey of self realization as well as relating it to many other interesting myths, stories, & philosophies.
Literate discussion of the freedom born of self-knowledge. - By: , 19 Oct 1998 The subtitle, "The Pilgramage of Psychotherapy Patients," belies the essence of this highly literate hymn to authenticity & self-governance: each of us must look within to find our own answers. Drawing from the Bible, the I Ching, Siddhartha, Jung & too many others to name, the author urges that living fully requires us to let go of concepts of fairness, perfection & control & embrace the uncertainty & ambiguity of our journey. A liberating, thought provoking paean to autonomy, self acceptance & personal growth. Life Changing!
Excellent insights on the client-therapist relationship - By: , 16 Mar 1998 
Just as Rogers was said to have taken the patient off the couch, Sheldon Kopp takes the therapist off his/her pedestal. A must-read for anyone who has ever struggled with the conflictual aims of the therapist & client in a therapeutic process. Unfortunately the latter chapters tend to be more autobiographical & the book loses some of it's impact.
