Review of Making contact: Uses of language in psychotherapy

• Published in: Psychotherapy (Chicago, Ill.) Vol. 23; no. 4; pp. 651 - 652
• Main Author: Rosenberg, Saul E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Educational Publishing Foundation 1986
• Subjects: Human; Language; Psychotherapeutic Processes; Psychotherapeutic Techniques; Psychotherapy
• ISSN: 0033-3204; 1939-1536
• DOI: 10.1037/h0085674

Reviews the book, Making contact: Uses of language in psychotherapy by Leston Havens (see record 1986-97288-000). Drawing on ideas from psychoanalytic, existential, and interpersonal theories, the author has provided a thought-provoking and practical book about how to reach, affect, and influence the distant or absent patient through language. This book is not only thought-provoking and practical but also a pleasure to read; Havens possesses a graceful literary style that is vivid, witty, and filled with fresh metaphors. Havens avoids traditional terminology for describing the more disturbed patient in favor of a personal and less objectifying way of speaking. Havens has provided a framework for conceptualizing how language can be used in a disciplined and powerful way to locate the lost selves of our patients. By calling attention to how we speak, he reminds us that language, used empathically and authentically, is the most powerful tool we have to bridge the often wide chasm between us and our patients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)