A bystander is someone who does not become involved when someone else needs help. This book investigates the meaning of bystanding behaviour in ordinary life as well as in counselling psychology and psychotherapeutic practice, its supervision and organization. It is about helping and not helping, giving and getting help, and some ways of thinking and acting in our increasingly complex moral world. Bystanding is seen as a major way in which people disempower themselves and others. It works at the juncture of the individual and the collective, the person and the group, the citizen and the state, the patient and the psychotherapist.

This book provides an exploration of the psychological and social costs of convenience-neutrality, non-involvement or avoidance of responsibility and gives some guidelines on dealing with the difficult issues of bystanding in ourselves and others.

Professor Petruska Clarkson is affiliated to PHYSIS in London. She is world-renowned for her work in the psychotherapy field.