An extended meditation on the cultural importance of the institution of psychotherapy.
Written with a rare combination of multidisciplinary expertise and personal passion, The Cure of Souls is a sociocultural investigation into the role and impact of the practice of psychotherapy in the modern world. The investigation is bi-directional, exploring both the influence of the basic tenets of psychotherapy on Western cultures and the influence of modern Western cultures on the assumptions inherent in psychotherapy.
Woolfolk's paradigm-shifting examination of the sociocultural functions of psychotherapy can be seen as a response to the influence of managed care on the practice of psychotherapy. While not denying the importance of science in the mental health professions, the author argues against the "medicalization" of the field in favor of a values-oriented understanding of psychotherapy's role in our culture.
He calls for a more comprehensive, values-based view of psychotherapy -- an understanding that will pay homage to the complexity of human life.
