And How Does That Make You Feel? - Everything You (n)Ever Wanted to Know About Therapy Author : Joshua Fletcher ISBN-13 : 978-1398713208 Publisher : Orion Spring Guideline Price : £18.99 Joshua Fletcher is a psychotherapist, author and media personality, who has written and tweeted extensively about his specialist subject, anxiety. Fletcher has experience from both sides of the couch, having suffered from acute anxiety and panic attacks.
Here, Fletcher tries to explain the basics of psychotherapy, using four real patients, with names and details altered to preserve confidentiality. We meet self-harming Noah, who hints cryptically at a dark secret in his past; famous actor Daphne, whose confident public persona is very much at odds with her private self. There’s nightclub doorman Levi, whose wife and community are convinced he is possessed by an evil spirit that must be exorcised through self-flagellation; and Zahra, a successful doctor whose crippling anxiety means she can barely leave the house.
Their interactions are written as direct dialogue between therapist and patient, akin to reading a play or a two-hander on TV, with the added insight of Fletcher’s internal responses to his patients’ confessions and behaviours. These veer from insightful to hilarious, depending on which of his inner voices is engaged. The conversational tone ensures the book zips along, and Fletcher is a skilled enough writer that he engages us with each character, so we are anxious to see how.
