Handbook of Remotivation Therapy

Abstract

Dyer JA, Stotts ML, eds. Binghamton, NY 13904-1580, The Haworth Clinical Practice Press, 2005, paperback, 170 pp, ISBN: 0-7890-2471-3, $24.95. What is remotivation therapy? The purpose of this short anthology is to enlighten readers about the birth, growth, decline, and gradual reemergence of this mental health therapy technique. The book targets mental health care professionals, but makes the case that remotivation therapy techniques are useful for anyone or any organization that takes care of people. According to the book, “remotivation is a technique of simple group therapy, objective in nature, used with a group of patients in an effort to reach the ‘unwounded’ areas of each patient’s personality and to get them thinking about reality in relation to themselves. Remotivation differs from other therapies because it focuses on the patients’ abilities rather than disabilities” (p 13). Remotivation therapy was started in the 1940s by Dorothy Hoskins Smith, who used rhythm and poetry to engage clients who are …