Preface

Dr. William Carrington has thrice put me in his debt. Within minutes of my first meeting him in England in 1952, he lent me some money! (I had just arrived from the U.S.A., and had no sterling.) In 1956, on a lecture tour in Australia, I was taken ill, and he took me into his home and restored me to health. In 1958, while I was away on an extended project in Asia, he came to the United States and took over my teaching assignments at Drew University in New Jersey.

Out of these and other experiences, a deep understanding and friendship has grown up between us. In long hours of conversation, and in the sharing of conferences and case dis­cussions, I have developed a profound admiration and respect for his insight, his competence, and his outgoing compassion toward people in trouble. He has an original, enquiring mind that will not be satisfied with superficial explanations, but must always be digging deeper in the search for root causes. He has a gift for lucid and persuasive communication which has made him an outstanding radio personality in his native Australia. Above all, he combines a scientific knowledge of his field, based on wide reading and study, with a mystical sensitivity to aesthetic and religious values. Few clinicians of my acquaintance have been able, as consistently as he has, to keep in such perfect balance the concept of the wholeness of man, as body, mind and spirit.

In his home in Melbourne Dr. Carrington has set up, with a group of medical colleagues, a flourishing experiment in group practice. He has devoted himself more and more, in recent years, to psychotherapy and marriage counseling. He is much in demand as a consultant in these areas. In addition, he has concerned himself actively with the promotion of marriage guidance in his own land; particularly in fostering the training of marriage counselors and in developing counseling courses for the clergy. When I visited Australia he met me at Sydney Airport in his official capacity as President of the National Marriage Guidance Council—an office he discharged with great distinction.

It would be hard to find a man better qualified than Dr. Carrington to write an introductory handbook of marriage counseling. Besides his experience in Australia, he has had intimate contact with developments in this field in Britain and in the United States. He has kept himself fully informed of the most recent developments, yet has preserved a healthy detachment from particular groups and schools of thought.

In this book he has provided us with a serviceable guide to a new and as yet ill-charted field. He has written simply, so that the beginner can follow him without effort. At the same time the experienced counselor will find, particularly in the later chapters, much that will stimulate his thought. In two areas;—the relation between personality disorder and marriage, and the dynamics of interaction between counselor and client —his discussion seems to me to be particularly helpful.

The literature in the field of marriage counseling is as yet sparse. We have greatly needed a book such as this, and I warmly welcome its appearance. It is by no means the last word on the subject, as the author would readily concede. There are points of interpretation at which I would want to join issue with him, and launch into one of those long, exciting discussions which he and I have so much enjoyed in the past. But taken as a whole, the book is sound, well balanced, and practical. I have read it with much pleasure and profit, and express the hope that other readers will have the same rewarding experience.

David R. Mace

Executive Director, American

Association of Marriage Counselors

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