Over the past decade, psychotherapy and counselling have become more and more popular, with many people turning to therapists in the hope of finding a better, happier, more fulfilling life. In this cogently argued and beautifully written book, Peter Lomas, argues that as psychotherapy enters the mainstream, therapists have become dependent on the technical aspects of their profession at the expense of the many moral issues involved. Indeed, they have become so afraid of moralizing or of departing from what Lomas (...) views as a spurious scientific neutrality that the dialogue between therapist and patient tends to be distorted, potentially confusing, and too remote from the healthy reality of ordinary conversation. In this provocative analysis, drawing on his day-to-day experience of working with patients, Peter Lomas explores the consequences of this dichotomy, such as the loss of spontaneity and avoidance of closeness which may hinder rather than help the healing process. He looks at the problems associated with issues of power, and its abuse, which is central to psychotherapy, and explores the dilemmas involved when there is a clash of moral beliefs between the two people. This is a lucid and thought-provoking addition to the literature on psychotherapy, and will appeal both to trainee and practising therapists and counsellors, for people in therapy, and for those considering embarking upon it. (shrink)

Unnatural States is a radical critique of international theory, in particular, of the assumption of state agency--that states act in the world in their own right. Peter Lomas argues that since the universal states system is inequitable and rigid, and not all states are democracies anyway, this assumption is unreal, and to adopt it means reinforcing an unjust status quo. Looking at the concepts of state, nation, and agency, Lomas sees populations struggling to find an agreed model of the state, (...) owing to inherited material differences; and unsurprisingly, among theorists of the nation, only controversy and a great confusion of terms. Meanwhile, the functional incarnations of the state agent are caricatures: the mandarin state, the lawyer state, the landlord state, the heir-to-history state, and the patriot state. Yet recent developments in international theory (constructivism, scientific realism, postmodernism) sacrifice state agency only at the price of an unhelpful abstraction. The states system is dysfunctional and obsolete, Lomas contends, and international theory must be recast, with morality as central, to inspire and to guide historic change. He focuses in his conclusion on prescriptions for change, led by four moral concerns: human rights, weapons of mass destruction, relations between rich and poor societies, and the environment. "I begin this book," writes Lomas, "with the commonest commonplace of international theory, to expose it as a meaningless cliche. In the masterly hands of Hobbes, it was elaborated into a shock formula for organized society, a reading of history as civilization's failure. Kant sought to rescue morality from Hobbes and create the structures of modernity, but Kant's influence is coming to an end. In the Cold War, politicians disagreeing over another philosopher almost brought the world to an end. Hence the challenges of our time. These are primary and profound. Philosophers have done much to define the modern world. The point of international theory is to change it.". (shrink)