July 11th, 2014

I have always found the idea of blogging  rather intriguing, but I have never found the right format for it. It seems to me that counselling and therapy always bring up issues that have a wider importance beyond the therapeutic encounter in which such issues may arise. These include such familiar themes as politics, power, sexuality, spirituality, the self, society, relationships...the list is virtually endless. But the fact that such issues can arise in the course of therapy means a certain caution must be observed, too. The privacy of the therapeutic relationship must never be breached, certainly not by a blog such as this. So if I ever refer to client work, it will only be in the most general terms and will never refer to any actual cases of mine, though I might refer to famous cases from psychotherapeutic literature such as the case of Sabine Spielrein. So any clients of mine--past present or to come--can be assured that I will never be making comments about them.

One of the things that has lately been on my mind that I would like to discuss in this public forum is what I call Selling the Self. It is something I have had to do in trying to establish myself as a new counsellor in Canterbury and frankly, I can't stand it. In truth, I suspect few counsellors or therapists relish doing it, but it seems to be a necessity if you want to set up in private practice. But it occurs to me that this is what lots of people have to do and not just in their professional lives. The same things happens on dating sites where people shop around for romantic or sexual partners. But buyer beware!  Sellers are shrewd and dissimulating, for this is the nature of the marketplace.  My question is are we in danger of losing sight of something by the need to market ourselves as people? 

Anyway, like complaining about the weather, there is not much I can do about this state of affairs other than endure it. But I might explore selling the self a little more deeply to see if it has deeper implications than being an unwanted chore for me.  Any civil comments will be welcome.