Novel Connections: Between Literature and Psychotherapy

What can psychologists and psychotherapists learn from the world of literature?

Novel Connections explores the relationship between literary insights and those of the psychotherapist’s practice, focusing on a remarkable selection of authors including Virginia Woolf, Eugene O’Neil and Zadie Smith, whose works have rich relevance to a greater understanding of human relationships and psychology.

The book offers an understanding of the ’literary mind’ and how we all think in metaphors, analogies, and parables. Therapy can be understood as granting permission to narrate, and through a mutual process of articulation by both therapist and patient, a meaningful meeting of minds is built. Thinking well beyond the Western literary cannon, Weegmann illustrates the role of a ’writing cure’ in psychotherapy and excavates Freud’s relationship to the written word to demonstrate how much can be learned about human psychological life from literature.

Martin Weegmann is a Clinical Psychologist, Group Analyst and Narrative Therapist, living and working in London with over 30 years NHS experience. Over the years, he specialised in substance misuse, personality disorders and complex needs, including those with psychosis. Martin has published 6 books and many book chapters and journal articles. He has been noted for his clarity of style and creativity of thought.