Everything you always wanted to know about therapy (but were afraid to ask): Social,political, economic and clinical fragments of a critical psychotherapy

Three seemingly consensual propositions concerning psychotherapy and counselling are examined critically. All turn out to be unreliable, tendentious and even damaging: (i) Psychotherapy and counselling can be free and independent professions provided therapists, acting together, fight for them to be that way. (ii) Psychotherapy and counselling are private and personal activities, operating in the realms of feelings and emotions – the psyche, the unconscious, affects rooted in the body. Above all other factors, the single most important thing is the therapy relationship between two people. (iii) Psychotherapy and counselling, and psychotherapy are vocations, not jobs. Therapists are not only motivated by money. In developing his critiques of these propositions, the author utilizes social, political and economic perspectives. The author reviews new clinical thinking on the active role of the client in therapeutic process and suggests that a turn to the legendary figure of the Trickster might be of benefit to the field. The author locates his arguments in his experience of the politics and practices of psychotherapy and counselling, and engages in self-criticism.     

The New Paradigm in The Light of Ancient Hermetic Teachings

The information explosion we are witnessing nowadays not only entails a convergence of scientific discipline borderlines, but also means that teachings from long gone eras are becoming ever more clear. This study shows that the teachings of Hermes Trismegistus are only rendered truly comprehensible through the findings of postmodern science. A closer look at the Hermetic axioms reveals that they communicate significant scientific knowledge, although their terminology is reflective of the era in which they were created. These ancient concepts show essential differences from what classical physics teaches, much rather correlating with the results of quantum physics.