Patrick Casement obtained his degree at Cambridge University, in anthropology and theology. He then qualified as a social worker, subsequently training as an analytical psychotherapist and then as a psychoanalyst. Until he retired he was a training and supervising analyst of the British Psychoanalytical Society.

His first book On Learning from the Patient, published in 1985, became an international bestseller in the field of psychoanalysis, now in over 20 languages. A later book, Learning from Our Mistakes, published in 2002, was awarded a Gradiva Award in America for its contribution to psychoanalysis. His last book Learning from Life: becoming a psychoanalyst (2006) is partly autobiographical - an unusual step for an analyst but one he felt able to take on retirement.