Sometimes You Just Want to Feel Like a Human Being: Case Studies of Empowering Psychotherapy with People with Disabilities.

Mary Ann Blotzer and Richard Ruth Brookes Publishing Company Inc. 1995, 239 pp., $25 paperback, ISBN 1-55766-196-0

Mary Ann Blotter and Richard Ruth are two professional psychotherapists who along with their colleagues have written a sensitive and thought provoking book that represents a major milestone in the psychological study of disability. Using actual case studies drawn from their clinical practice the therapists give their readers an overview of some of the practical therapeutic obstacles which they have encountered in their attempt to help their patients with disabilities cope with and resolve critical issues in their lives.

In the first two chapters Blotter and Ruth outline eleven basic professional principles which they feel mental health professionals need to be aware of and sensitive to when working with individuals with disabilities in psychotherapeutic situations. The authors argue that traditional psychoanalytic thinking concerning the impact of disability on the lives of individuals is for the most part inaccurate and should be discarded. Blotter and Ruth posit that in order for therapists to work effectively with individuals with disabilities in psychotherapy they must first develop a deeper understanding and appreciation of the totality of the internal struggle with the disability experience from the patient's perspective.

The authors contend that therapists must learn to give up their pervasive pathological view of individuals with disabilities and create an empowering therapeutic space that reaches beyond the traditional boundaries of their office environment. Therapists must learn to take more responsibility for the well being of their patients with disabilities. They must become more actively involved in intervention and advocacy efforts that serve to promote greater self determination with regard to important life issues that persons with disabilities very often do not have control over.

Blotter and Ruth conclude their discussion at the end of the second chapter by arguing that disability is not just an obstacle to be eliminated, it represents instead a political, social, and evolutionary role that can be made more positive with treatment.

The remaining fifteen chapters of the book provide professionals with insight into the day to day process of working with individuals with physical and mental disabilities in psychotherapy. Each of the case vignettes illustrated in the pages of this book is written by a different psychotherapist who attempts to give mental health professionals a realistic picture of some of the personal struggles, setbacks, and successes that therapists and patients with disabilities experience when they enter the process of psychotherapy together.

The central abiding theme that the therapists try to convey through out the context of this book is one of personal empowerment. They argue that it is very important to provide persons with disabilities with the psychological tools that will enable them to build a solid emotional foundation that will help them to draw meaning from and gain perspective on life with a disability. The authors further argue that it is crucial for mental health professionals to view the persons with disabilities as being part of a larger family care giver system which also needs to be nurtured and supported within the context of the therapeutic environment.

The authors conclude their book with the contention that every person with disability is a unique individual who's life situation can be made richer and more fulfilling through the development of insightful understanding. The book challenges mental health and other rehabilitation professionals to seriously reexamine their beliefs about the significance of the inner psychological world of individuals with physical and mental disabilities.

Sometimes You Just Want to Feel Like a Human Being: Case Studies of Empowering Psychotherapy with People with Disabilities provides psychotherapists and other rehabilitation professionals with a wealth of useful clinical information about how they can apply the principles and techniques of psychotherapy to the treatment of emotional problems of individuals with disabilities. The book should be included on the reading list of mental health professionals who teach in university based academic training that offer undergraduate and graduate level courses in clinical psychology and social work. The book would also be a valuable resource for clinicians working in community based agencies that provide mental health services to individual with disabilities and their families.

Mitchell A. Kaplan Ph.D, C.S.R.S.
Evaluation Consultant
Mayor's Office on AIDS Policy Coordination
New York City