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This book closely examines the analyst’s early experiences and character traits, demonstrating the impact they have on theory building and technique. Arguing that choice of theory and interventions are unconsciously shaped by clinicians’ early experiences, this book argues for greater self-awareness, self-acceptance, and open dialogue as a corrective. Linking the analyst’s early childhood experiences to ongoing vulnerabilities reflected in theory and practice, this book favors an approach that focuses on feedback and confrontation, as well as empathic understanding and acceptance. Essential to this task, and a thesis that runs through the book, are analysts’ motivations for doing tre...
Helping therapists navigate the complexities of emotional interactions with clients, this book provides practical clinical guidelines. Master clinician Karen J. Maroda adds an important dimension to the psychodynamic literature by exploring the role of both clients' and therapists' emotional experiences in the process of therapy. Vivid case examples illustrate specific techniques for becoming more attuned to one's own experience of a client; offering direct feedback and self-disclosure in the service of treatment goals; and managing intense feelings and conflict in the relationship. Maroda clearly distinguishes between therapeutic and nontherapeutic ways to work with emotion in this candid and instructive guide.
Seduction, Surrender, and Transformation demonstrates how interpersonal psychoanalysis obliges analysts to engage their patients with genuine emotional responsiveness, so that not only the patient but the analyst too is open to ongoing transformation through the analytic experience. In so doing, the analyst moves from the position of an "interpreting observer" to that of an "active participant and facilitator" whose affective communications enable the patient to acquire basic self-trust along with self-knowledge. Drawing on the current literature on affect, Maroda argues that psychological change occurs through affect-laden interpersonal processes. Given that most patients in psychotherapy h...
A signpost of the relational turn in contemporary psychoanalysis, Karen Maroda's The Power of Countertransference, published in 1991, is perhaps the first systematic effort to integrate the need for mutual emotional exchanges, which may include the analyst's own self-disclosures, into an interactive model of psychoanalytic practice. Maroda's call for emotional honesty and affective self-disclosure had an immediate impact on the field and led Harold Searles to comment, "If we follow the example set by Maroda, we shall be minimally likely to 'act in' our emotions in our sessions with our patients. They will benefit greatly as a result; we practitioners shall benefit; and the profession of psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic therapy will become healthier and stronger than it is at present." This revised edition includes a new Foreword by Lewis Aron and an Afterword in which Maroda clarifies her own position and comments on the evolution of psychoanalytic technique since the publication of The Power of Countertransference.
How did psychoanalysis come to define itself as being different from psychotherapy? How have racism, homophobia, misogyny and anti-Semitism converged in the creation of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis? Is psychoanalysis psychotherapy? Is psychoanalysis a "Jewish science"? Inspired by the progressive and humanistic origins of psychoanalysis, Lewis Aron and Karen Starr pursue Freud's call for psychoanalysis to be a "psychotherapy for the people." They present a cultural history focusing on how psychoanalysis has always defined itself in relation to an "other." At first, that other was hypnosis and suggestion; later it was psychotherapy. The authors trace a series of binary oppositions, each d...
'What brings you here?' is the standard question posed to patients at the outset of their therapeutic journey. In A Curious Calling, this question is posed to therapists themselves. Applicants to psychotherapy training programs commonly state that they wish 'to help people'—but this tells us very little. What are the unconscious factors underlying the decision to become a psychotherapist? Guilt, compassion, a sense of moral duty, a sense of power? Or a wish to be needed, or to enjoy vicariously the prospect of receiving aid and comfort? For each individual with a 'need to help' there exists a unique constellation of underlying motives and aims. Without exploring and facing up to these hidden sources of motivation, therapists run the risk of exploiting patients for their own needs. The only comprehensive text on this topic, Sussman's book presents a survey of motivations to practice psychotherapy, through an extensive review of the available literature and discussion of the results of a qualitative study of therapists conducted by the author.
The Widening Scope of Shame is the first collection of papers on shame to appear in a decade and contains contributions from most of the major authors currently writing on this topic. It is not a sourcebook, but a comprehensive introduction to clinical and theoretical perspectives on shame that is intended to be read cover to cover. The panoramic scope of this multidisciplinary volume is evidenced by a variety of clinically and developmentally grounded chapters; by chapters explicating the theories of Silvan Tomkins and Helen Block Lewis; and by chapters examining shame from the viewpoints of philosophy, social theory, and the study of family systems. A final section of brief chapters illumi...
Addressing the art and science of psychodynamic treatment, Nancy McWilliams distills the essential principles of clinical practice, including effective listening and talking; transference and countertransference; emotional safety; and an empathic, attuned attitude toward the patient. The book describes the values, assumptions, and clinical and research findings that guide the psychoanalytic enterprise, and shows how to integrate elements of other theoretical perspectives. It discusses the phases of treatment and covers such neglected topics as educating the client about the therapeutic process, handling complex challenges to boundaries, and attending to self-care. Presenting complex information in personal, nontechnical language enriched by in-depth clinical vignettes, this is an essential psychoanalytic work and training text for therapists.
This text provides an overview of the lifework and thoughts of five thinkers in contemporary psychoanalysis. The interviews concentrate on interpretations of each analyst's work and also develops more broad-ranging philosophical concerns about the nature of psychoanalysis and of their own work.
Core Competencies of Relational Psychoanalysis provides a concise and clearly presented handbook for those who wish to study, practice, and teach the core competencies of Relational Psychoanalysis, offering primary skills in a straightforward and useable format. Roy E. Barsness offers his own research on technique and grounds these methods with superb contributions from several master clinicians, expanding the seven primary competencies: therapeutic intent, therapeutic stance/attitude; analytic listening/attunement; working within the relational dynamic, the use of patterning and linking; the importance of working through the inevitable enactments and ruptures inherent in the work; and the u...