On the Couch: Great American Stories About Therapy / by Erica Cates

 Everybody's got problems. From the mightiest patriarch to the lowliest peasant, almost everyone can identify with the inescapability of life's ups and downs; and, subsequently, the comfort and emotional release a sensitive ear can bring when things are at their worst. While not all the stories in On the Couch deal with the woes of existence, they all confront the nature of talk therapy and its truly purposeful--though controversial--use as an antidote to mental and emotional dilemmas. Among such other literary notables along with the likes of John Updike and Amy Bloom, stories in this unique anthology center on the "behind closed doors" atmosphere of counselors and their patients. So whether you veiw talk therapy as some do: a universal cure for mental illness. Or even if you render the realm of psychology and psychotherapy as a profession of glorified hand-holders, this book is a win-win with its intriguing stories on, well, other people's "issues". (SSC ON)