Creatures of a Day: And Other Tales of Psychotherapy


Irvin D. Yalom - 2015
    Yalom describes his patients' struggles -- as well as his own -- to come to terms with the two great challenges of existence: how to have a meaningful life yet reckon with its inevitable end. We meet a nurse who must stifle the pain of losing her son in order to comfort her patients' pains, a newly minted psychologist whose studies damage her treasured memories of a lost friend, and a man whose rejection of psychological inquiry forces even Yalom himself into a crisis of confidence. Creatures of a Day is a radically honest statement about the difficulties of human life, but also a celebration of some of the finest fruits -- love, family, friendship -- it can offer. Marcus Aurelius has written that "we are all creatures of a day." With Yalom as our guide, we will find the means to make our own day not only bearable, but also meaningful and joyful.

Playing and Reality


D.W. Winnicott - 1971
    In this landmark book of twentieth-century psychology, Winnicott shows the reader how, through the attentive nurturing of creativity from the earliest years, every individual has the opportunity to enjoy a rich and rewarding cultural life. Today, as the 'hothousing' and testing of children begins at an ever-younger age, Winnicott's classic text is a more urgent and topical read than ever before.

The Ego and the Id


Sigmund Freud - 1923
    The heart of his concern is the ego, which he sees battling with three forces: the id, the super-ego, and the outside world.Of the various English translations of Freud's major works to appear in his lifetime, only one was authorized by Freud himself: The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud under the general editorship of James Strachey.Freud approved the overall editorial plan, specific renderings of key words and phrases, and the addition of valuable notes, from bibliographical and explanatory. Many of the translations were done by Strachey himself; the rest were prepared under his supervision. The result was to place the Standard Edition in a position of unquestioned supremacy over all other existing versions.

Strictly Bipolar


Darian Leader - 2013
    Mood-stabilising medication is routinely prescribed to adults and children alike, with child prescriptions this decade increasing by 400% and overall diagnoses by 4000%.What could explain this explosion of bipolarity? Is it a legitimate diagnosis or the result of Big Pharma marketing? Exploring these questions, Darian Leader challenges the rise of 'bipolar' as a catch-all solution to complex problems, and argues that we need to rethink the highs and lows of mania and depression.What, he asks, do these experiences have to do with love, guilt and rage? Why the spending sprees and the intense feeling of connection with the world? Why the confidence, the self-esteem and the sense of a bright future that can so swiftly turn into despair and dejection?Only by looking at these questions in a new way will we be able to understand and help the person caught between feelings that can be so terrifying and so exhilarating, so life-affirming yet also so lethal.Strictly Bipolar is essential reading for anyone interested in contemporary views of the self, bipolarity and a deeper understanding of manic-depression.Praise for What is Madness?:'Lucid, excellent' Adam Phillips, London Review of Books'Leader is as much a philosopher as a psychoanalyst and his ideas are engrossing and enlightening' Metro'Fascinating . . . [Leader has] a formidable grasp of psychiatric history and a storyteller's flair for detail . . . a humane and timely book' New Statesman'The mad . . . have been segregated and often confined; for fear, perhaps, that they will contaminate the rest of us. But as Darian Leader brilliantly shows, things are never so simple' Hanif Kureshi, IndependentDarian Leader is a psychoanalyst practising in London and a member of the Centre for Freudian Analysis and Research and of the College of Psychoanalysts - UK. He is the author of What is Madness?, The New Black, Why do women write more letters than they post?, Promises lovers make when it gets late, Freud's Footnotes and Stealing the Mona Lisa, and co-author, with David Corfield, of Why Do People Get Ill? He is Honorary Visiting Professor in the School of Human and Life Sciences, Roehampton University.

Understanding Human Nature


Alfred Adler - 1927
    At the same time it's a demonstration of the practical application of these principles to the conduct of everyday relationships & the organization of personal life. Based upon a year's lectures to audiences at the People's Institute in Vienna, the book pointd out how the mistaken behavior of individuals affects social & communal harmony; to teach individuals to recognize their mistakes; & finally, to show them how they may effect a harmonious adjustment to communal life. Adler felt that mistakes in business or in science were costly & deplorable, but mistakes in the conduct of life are often dangerous to life itself. This book is dedicated by the author in his preface to the task of illuminating progress toward a better understanding of human nature.

On Flirtation


Adam Phillips - 1994
    So is flirtation dangerous, exploiting the ambiguity of promises to sabotage our cherished notions of commitment? Or is it, as Adam Phillips suggests, a productive pleasure, keeping things in play, letting us get to know them in different ways, allowing us the fascination of what is unconvincing?

The Restoration of the Self


Heinz Kohut - 1973
    Here Kohut proposes a “psychology of the self” as a theory in its own right—one that can stand beside the teachings of Freud and Jung. Using clinical data, Kohut explores issues such as the role of narcissism in personality, when a patient can be considered cured, and the oversimplifications and social biases that unduly influenced Freudian thought. This volume puts forth some of Kohut’s most influential ideas on achieving emotional health through a balanced, creative, and joyful sense of self. "Kohut speaks clearly from his identity as a psychoanalyst-healer, showing that he is more of a psychoanalyst than most, and yet calling for major theoretical revisions including a redefinition of the essence of psychoanalysis.”

For Your Own Good: Hidden Cruelty in Child-Rearing and the Roots of Violence


Alice Miller - 1980
    Her conclusions―on what sort of parenting can create a drug addict, or a murderer, or a Hitler―offer much insight, and make a good deal of sense, while also straying far from psychoanalytic dogma about human nature, which Miller vehemently rejects.This important study paints a shocking picture of the violent world―indeed, of the ever-more-violent world―that each generation helps to create when traditional upbringing, with its hidden cruelty, is perpetuated. The book also presents readers with useful solutions in this regard―namely, to resensitize the victimized child who has been trapped within the adult, and to unlock the emotional life that has been frozen in repression.

Reinventing Your Life: The Breakthrough Program to End Negative Behavior...and Feel Great Again


Jeffrey E. Young - 1993
    Young, Ph.D., and Janet S. Klosko, Ph.D., show readers how to free themselves from negative life patterns. Written with compassion as well as clinical insight, this thought-provoking book guides readers through the process of identifying "life traps." For example, "Do you put the needs of others before your own? Are you drawn into relationships with people who are self-centered, cold to you, misunderstand you, or use you? Do you feel inadequate compared to people around you?" Followed by an engaging discussion that makes use of case studies, this book can help people change their lives by stopping the cycle of self-destruction.

The Neurotic Personality of Our Time


Karen Horney - 1937
     In this book, Karen Horney explores the basic structure of neuroses in the context of their cultural assumptions. Her topics range from the neurotic need for affection, to guilt feelings and the quest for power, prestige and possession. Horney maintains that the conflicts found in neurotic persons in a given culture correspond to to the ways of life characteristic of that culture. She writes for example, " It is only under definite cultural conditions that we find domineering or self- sacrificing mothers, and it is also only because of these existing conditions that such an experience will have an influence on later life."

Looking Awry: An Introduction to Jacques Lacan through Popular Culture


Slavoj Žižek - 1991
    Slavoj Zizek, a leading intellectual in the new social movements of Eastern Europe, provides a virtuoso reading of the psycholanalytic theory of Jacques Lacan through the works of contemporary popular culture, from horror fiction and detective thrillers to popular romances and Hitchcock films.

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-IV-TR


American Psychiatric Association - 1952
    Updated information is included about the associated features, culture, age & gender features, prevalence, course & familial pattern of mental disorders. The DSM-IV-TR(R) brings this essential diagnostic tool to-date, to promote effective diagnosis, treatment & quality of care. One can get all the essential diagnostic information from the DSM-IV(R) along with important updates not in the '94 edition. Benefit from new research into Schizophrenia, Asperger's Disorder & other conditions. Utilize additional information about the epidemiology & other facets of DSM conditions. Update ICD-9-CM codes implemented since 1994 including Conduct Disorder, Dementia, Somatoform Disorders.Use of the manual DSM-IV-TR classification Multiaxial assessment Disorders usually 1st diagnosed in infancy, childhood or adolescenceDelirium, dementia & amnestic & other cognitive disordersMental disorders due to a general medical condition Substance-related disorders Schizophrenia & other psychotic disordersMood disorders Anxiety disordersSomatoform disordersFactitious disordersDissociative disordersSexual & gender identity disordersEating disorders Sleep disorders Impulse-control disorders not elsewhere classifiedAdjustment disordersPersonality disordersOther conditions that may be a focus of clinical attentionAdditional codes Appendix A: Decision trees for differential diagnosis Appendix B: Criteria sets & axes provided for further study Appendix C: Glossary of technical terms Appendix D: Highlights of changes in DSM-IV text revisionAppendix E: Alphabetical listing of DSM-IV-TR diagnoses & codesAppendix F: Numerical listing of DSM-IV-TR diagnoses & codesAppendix G: ICD-9-CM codes for selected general medical conditions & medication-induced disordersAppendix H: DSM-IV classification with ICD-10 codesAppendix I: Outline for cultural formulation & glossary of culture-bound syndromesAppendix J: DSM-IV contributorsAppendix K: DSM-IV text revision advisers

Why Therapy Works: Using Our Minds to Change Our Brains


Louis Cozolino - 2015
    But why does it work? And why does it matter that we understand how it works?In Why Therapy Works, Louis Cozolino explains the mechanisms of psychotherapeutic change from the bottom up, beginning with the brain, and how brains have evolved—especially how brains evolved to learn, unlearn, and relearn, which is at the basis of lasting psychological change.Readers will learn why therapists have to look beyond just words, diagnoses, and presenting problems to the inner histories of their clients in order to discover paths to positive change. The book also shows how our brains have evolved into social organs and how our interpersonal lives are a source of both pain and power. Readers will explore with Cozolino how our brains are programmed to connect in intimate relationships and come to understand the debilitating effects of anxiety, stress, and trauma.Finally, the book will lead to an understanding of the power of story and narratives for fostering self-regulation, neural integration, and positive change.Always, the focus of the book is in understanding underlying therapeutic change, moving beyond the particular of specific forms of therapy to the commonalities of human evolution, biology, and experience.This book is for anyone who has experienced the benefits of therapy and wondered how it worked. It is for anyone thinking about whether therapy is right for them, and it is for anyone who has looked within themselves and marveled at people's ability to experience profound transformation.

Four Archetypes


C.G. Jung - 1970
    Jung believed that every person partakes of a universal or collective unconscious that persists through generations. The origins of the concept can be traced to his very first publication in 1902 and it remained central to his thought throughout his life. As well as explaining the theoretical background behind the idea, in Four Archetypes Jung describes the four archetypes that he considers fundamental to the psychological make-up of every individual: mother, rebirth, spirit and trickster. Exploring their role in myth, fairytale and scripture, Jung engages the reader in discoveries that challenge and enlighten the ways we perceive ourselves and others.

Freud and Beyond: A History of Modern Psychoanalytic Thought


Stephen A. Mitchell - 1995
    But psychoanalytic thinking has undergone an enormous expansion and transformation over the past fifty years. With Freud and Beyond, Stephen A. Mitchell and Margaret J. Black make contemporary psychoanalytic thinking—the body of work that has been done since Freud—available for the first time. Richly illustrated with case examples, this lively, jargon-free introduction makes modern psychoanalytic thought accessible at last.