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Theory is an explanation, an exposition of the abstract principles within a science or art, an idea which has not yet been proved - conjecture. To be ‘new’ - like New Labour? - freshly grown or lately discovered. What remains to be discovered by psychotherapists about relating? We've had premodern, modern and postmodern approaches; psychoanalysis, analytical psychology and humanistic therapies which all value competing ‘theories’ - usually venerated statements of sage founders and elder states persons. The same is true of the ‘Joseph's Technicolour Dreamcoat’ of ‘New Age’ therapies. What can be said that is new? Something simple.
Science proceeds, spiral-fashion, from theory to observation and observation to new theory by hypothesis generation and falsification. The main elements of relating can be imagined on two axes - love and will - or, in the new terminology, (distant and close), (upper and lower). On each axis, relating can be positive and negative. This concept is central (pp. 12-13). Positive relating is what we should all strive for and negative relating falls short of this ideal. A versatile person (who relates positively) could score equally on each axis. Therapy of relating is a matter of accentuating positive and minimizing negative. How Humans Relate (Birtchnell 1993) outlined research on relating and derived a mathematical model, a task possible for someone fluent in many theoretical languages: scientific precision, artistic creativity and years of hands-on clinical experience.
John Birtchnell, whose fluent English makes this book easy to read, uses languages from medicine (trained at Edinburgh), research (he worked for the Medical Research Council for many years), and vocabulary from psychology, psychiatry and art therapy. He has drawn on considerable experience to narrate a theory of relationships, illustrated with lively clinical examples. He also introduces a new research tool, the Persons Relating to Others Questionnaire (PROQ).
The book is a distil