The Gossamer Thread

This book is a memoir of the author's professional life as a psychologist and psychotherapist. It shows his progression from a hard-nosed behaviour therapist with a strong commitment to science to a psychodynamic therapist with an interest in narrative. Along the way he shows the way the main schools of psychotherapy (behavioural, cognitive, psychodynamic) work, drawing on case material from his professional practice. He shows the mistakes he made and the lessons he eventually learned from his patients. His focus on clinical cases enables readers to see psychotherapy in operation and get drawn into the ups and downs of trying to help some fascinating and often tricky people who rarely conform to what is expected of them.The book is free of jargon and can be enjoyed without any prior knowledge of psychology or psychotherapy. It is designed to entertain and inform the general readership about the mysterious world of psychotherapy, what goes on behind the consulting room door. It will be of particular interest to the increasing number of people who encounter psychotherapy either through their own experience of seeking help or the experiences of family and friends or through reading of popular books such as those of Oliver James and Irving Yalom.It should also prove invaluable for those interested in training as a clinical psychologist, counsellor or psychotherapist.

It is 1939 when this story opens. Ellen Ramsden has to face a difficult future, her husband who was an invalid has just died, his ill health largely due to his First World War service. Now another war is coming and she knows her sons Joe and Bill will be drawn into the fight. They are already anticipating it with some excitement. Bill joins up in the Royal Air Force, but she manages to keep Joe at home in a reserved occupation in the Dockyard until after a broken romance he enlists in the army. Millicent, meanwhile, who is only sixteen takes up a career in the local theatre. What happens to these four people is the basis of the story, their lives and loves. The Gossamer Thread is what holds them, strong but invisible and brings those who are left back together again before the story ends.

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The thread slid over Ashanti's fingers, softer than baby's hair, finer than a spider web. Weaving a new marriage for two people was a heavy task but one Ashanti took on with joy. Her stitches would shape their lives for decades, transforming separate individuals into a happily married couple. With two such different individuals weaving a life together took extra thought, effort and sacrifice.

From the time of Ezra, the Scribe, when the reading of the Torah was made a regular part of weekly service, it has been the constant bond of Jewish life throughout the centuries. The destruction of the Second Temple did not stop its undying influence on the customs, observance and behavior of its adherents. Wherever the conditions of the times forced Jews to wander, the Torah was never far from their souls and minds.