Michael B. Sussman

"What brings you here?" is the standard question posed to patients at the outset of their therapeutic journey. In A Curious Calling, this question is posed to therapists themselves. Applicants to psychotherapy training programs commonly state that they wish "to help people"—but this tells us very little. What are the unconscious factors underlying the decision to become a psychotherapist? Guilt, compassion, a sense of moral duty, a sense of power? Or a wish to be needed, or to enjoy vicariously the prospect of receiving aid and comfort? For each individual with a "need to help" there exists a unique constellation of underlying motives and aims. Without exploring and facing up to these hidden sources of motivation, therapists run the risk of exploiting patients for their own needs. The only comprehensive text on this topic, Sussman's book presents a survey of motivations to practice psychotherapy, through an extensive review of the available literature and discussion of the results of a qualitative study of therapists conducted by the author.

The road to becoming a professional psychotherapist is typically long and arduous. Once having arrived, the actual practice of psychotherapy is emotionally taxing and the process is frequently characterized by a good deal of anxiety, ambiguity and doubt. What are the underlying motivations that provide the impetus for such an undertaking? This is the complex and intriguing question to which this book is addressed. The care of other people rather than oneself is a superb form of adaptation - but only if the self is also cared for. By recognizing and mastering the more pathological sources of their wish to heal, psychotherapists can ultimately heal their own wounds, and achieve a more truly loving a creative helping capacity.