Written with a rare combination of personal passion and multidisciplinary expertise, Robert L. Woolfolk analyzes the institution of psychotherapy, exploring the roles that psychotherapy plays in the contemporary world. Psychotherapy emerges as a pivotal social force, one that both shapes and reflects the principal currents of western cultures. Rarely has any writer addressed the issue of values in psychotherapy as cogently and comprehensively as has Robert Woolfolk in this groundbreaking volume. This book should be read by the providers and consumers of psychotherapy as well as by anyone with an intellectual interest in the current status of this important form of treatment. --Aaron T. Beck, university professor emeritus, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine