At present any one of a large number of professional services may be called upon to deal with the distress of individuals and families. They may be concerned successively or simultaneously, in co-operation with one another or in competition. In this profusion of services a large number of problems fail to receive help. This book offers a way of defining the help that the different services can give. The authors maintain that each of the professions has its distinctive approach and that each of these approaches should have its justification in theory and practice.

(partial) The cry for help. Notions of help. Whence cometh my help. The professional response. Focusing on a practical problem. Dimensions of diagnosis. Frames of reference. Primary process of provision. Occupational hazards and the double bind. Psychotherapy and the psychotherapist. Care and support: for whom?