Against Therapy

Against Therapy is a book by Jeffrey Masson which claims that psychotherapy can lead to abuse. Therapists ask patients to do more than is reasonably possible, they, “distort another person's reality" try to change people in ways that conform to the therapist’s concepts and prejudices. Therapists are in Masson’s opinion inevitably corrupted by power and in Masson’s opinion, “abuse of one form or another is built into the very fabric of psychotherapy". Masson believes that psychotherapy by its nature harms mankind because therapists appear omnipotent and are corrupted by power. The client’s concerns and interests can be swept aside while therapists impose their analysis and disregard too much of what the client wants and says.