Therapists are not immune to the range of problems their clients experience, including divorce, bereavement, illness and depression. The Myth of the Untroubled Therapist considers what kinds of difficulties clinicians face, as well as the best ways of dealing with them.

Featuring interviews from forty different practitioners – CBT, psychoanalytic, integrative and humanistic therapists from an international array of backgrounds – on how they coped during times of personal strife, the book dispels the myth that therapists are immune to the kind of problems that they help clients through. Using clinical examples, personal experience and research literature, Marie Adams challenges mental health professionals to take a step back and consider their own wellbeing. This new edition is updated throughout and includes a new chapter looking at the impact of COVID-19 on practitioners. Linking therapists’ personal histories to their choice of career, the book highlights some of the key elements that may serve, and sometimes undermine, counsellors working in private practice or mental health settings.

The Myth of the Untroubled Therapist is ideal for counsellors and psychotherapists, as well as social workers and those working within any kind of helping profession.

Marie Adams is a psychotherapist and writer. Along with her private practice, she teaches at the Metanoia Institute in London and the Institute for Arts Therapy and Education. She previously worked as a news producer for the BBC and later as a consultant psychotherapist for the Corporation, leading workshops for journalists and production staff on trauma and mental health.