list.co.uk/festival Susie Orbach | FESTIVAL BOOKS
LISTEN UP
Therapy is no spectator sport, says psychotherapist Susie Orbach, but it is an experience that deserves to be demystifi ed. Ahead of her Edinburgh International Book festival appearance, she tells Lynsey May how her new book allowed her to do just that
I n a world where personal and political issues loom large, a clear message has emerged – it’s good to talk about your problems. A noble suggestion, perhaps, but as writer and psychotherapist Susie Orbach explains, there’s more than one way of talking and not all of them are transformative.
Babbling into empty space is unlikely to solve anyone’s problems but actively discussing and analysing feelings in therapy just might. Orbach, who describes therapy as a listening cure as much as a talking one, has long wanted to reveal what goes on behind that closed door. With In Therapy: The Unfolding Story, she’s found the ideal opportunity. What is now a book started as a series on Radio 4. ‘I’d been approached before and always thought, no, it’s too dishonest,’ she said, but the idea arose to use actors, who would be briefed by director Ian Rickson and would come to Orbach with problems and lives she couldn’t predict. This created the level of tension, truth and authenticity she wanted.
Orbach might have been entirely coni dent in the actors’ abilities, but admits she was anxious about the recording studio and also her ability to act as though she knew her i ctional visitors well. ‘It’s quite humbling really but therapy is a humbling experience, helping or engaging with people in their lives. So in a way, it was appropriate that I had my own difi culties to deal with,’ she says. In contrast, the moment where Orbach was able to sit down and turn the radio segments into a book was a far more meditative experience, giving her the chance to be more expansive and analytical of her own thought process during sessions – and to tackle some pretty big
questions, like ‘just what the hell is therapy anyway, why is it such a different conversation and why can’t people just buck up and change on their own?’
But change is difi cult, and it’s especially hard to achieve without help in a world where we’re besieged by everything from terrifying headlines to companies and advertising agencies deliberately targeting and inventing weakness to exploit.
People spend their lives looking for meaning and will sometimes take it anywhere they can i nd it. In fact, Orbach recently discovered snippets of things she’d once said being used on generic lifestyle posters in America. No one asked permission, and now her words are being presented as inspirational, aspirational quotes. Leaving her wondering, ‘what does it mean for us, our culture, when we’re not even making our own words?’ That said, when it comes to author-reader relations, people do seem to be speaking up. Rel ecting on her upcoming event at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, Orbach says she’s felt a real change in the feelings around author events.
‘In the old days you went and did it for publicity and now, people are doing it to engage with an active readership . . . there’s such desire to connect, perhaps because we have been living in silos and living online so much. There’s a real frisson in the room.’ Perhaps now more than ever, we’re realising that talking, listening and pursuing emotional literacy are some of the best tools we have.
Susie Orbach, Charlotte Square Gardens, 24 Aug, 11.45am, £12 (£10).
8–15 Aug 2018 THE LIST FESTIVAL 39