Forced Endings in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis:Attachment and Loss in Retirement explores the ambivalence the therapist may feel about letting go of a professional role which has sustained them. Anne Power explores the process of closing a private practice, from the first ethical decision-making, through to the last day when the door of the therapy room shuts. She draws on the personal accounts of retired therapists and others who had to impose an ending on clients due to illness, in order to move house, to take maternity leave or a sabbatical.
A forced ending is an intrusion of the clinician-s own needs into the therapeutic space. Anne Power shows how this might compromise the work but may also be an opportunity for deeper engagement. Drawing on attachment theory to understand how the therapeutic couple cope with an imposed separation, Power includes interviews with therapists who took a temporary break to demonstrate the commo
