Against Therapy: Emotional Tyranny and the Myth of Psychological Healing

The author (The Assault on Truth) takes the position here that all forms of psychotherapy are wrong because the very structure of the therapist-patient relationship negates the freedom and dignity of the person seeking help. Though this study is sometimes shrill and overstated, it is in many ways Masson's best and most controversial book. Drawing on German-language sources, he presents disturbing new evidence of Jung's collaboration with the Nazis, then argues persuasively that Jungian therapy shows disdain for the real traumas people experience. The chapter on Freud's handling of the famous ``Dora'' (Ida Bauer) case pinpoints how Freud discounted Bauer's own perceptions of reality. Masson views Carl Rogers as a benevolent despot, and he condemns other therapies as wellGestalt, family, feminist, hypnosis, eclectic. His solution: nonauthoritarian self-help groups in which no money changes hands. (July)