A Curious Calling: Unconscious Motivations for Practicing Psychotherapy

The road to becoming a professional psychotherapist is typically long and arduous. Once having arrived, the actual practice of psychotherapy is emotionally taxing and the process is frequently characterized by a good deal of anxiety, ambiguity and doubt. What are the underlying motivations that provide the impetus for such an undertaking? This is the complex and intriguing question to which this book is addressed. The care of other people rather than oneself is a superb form of adaptation - but only if the self is also cared for. By recognizing and mastering the more pathological sources of their wish to heal, psychotherapists can ultimately heal their own wounds, and achieve a more truly loving a creative helping capacity.