Recognizing her face, her voice, the meaning of her moods, and her facial expressions is crucial to survival. Dr. Christine Ann Lawson vividly describes how mothers who suffer from borderline personality disorder produce children who may flounder in life even as adults, futilely struggling to reach the safety of a parental harbor, unable to recognize that their borderline parent lacks a pier, or even a discernible shore. Four character profiles describe different symptom clusters that include the waif mother, the hermit mother, the queen mother, and the witch. Children of borderlines are at risk for developing this complex and devastating personality disorder themselves. Dr. Lawson's recommendations for prevention include empathic understanding of the borderline mother and early intervention with her children to ground them in reality and counteract the often dangerous effects of living with a "make-believe" mother. Some readers may recognize their mothers as well as themselves in this book. They will also find specific suggestions for creating healthier relationships. Addressing the adult children of borderlines and the therapists who work with them, Dr. Lawson shows how to care for the waif without rescuing her, to attend to the hermit without feeding her fear, to love the queen without becoming her subject, and to live with the witch without becoming her victim. A Jason Aronson Book

    The world-famous psychiatrist and author of the classic works Attachment, Separation, and Loss offers important guidelines for child rearing based on the crucial role of early intimate relationships.

    With easy-to-understand explanations, the first part teaches you about the unconscious mind and the role of psychological defenses in excluding difficult feelings from awareness. Individual chapters in the longer middle section explore the primary defense mechanisms one by one, with exercises to help you identify your own defenses at work. The final part offers guidance for how to "disarm" your defenses and cope more effectively with the unconscious feelings behind them. Psychological defense mechanisms are an inevitable and necessary part of the human experience; but when they become too pervasive or deeply entrenched, they may damage our personal relationships, restrict or distort our emotional lives and prevent us from behaving in ways that promote lasting self-esteem.

    Kain and Stephen J. Terrell draw on fifty years of their combined clinical and teaching experience to provide this clear road map for understanding the complexities of early trauma and its related symptoms. Experts in the physiology of trauma, the authors present an introduction to their innovative somatic approach that has evolved to help thousands improve their lives. Synthesizing across disciplines–Attachment, Polyvagal, Neuroscience, Child Development Theory, Trauma, and Somatics–this book provides a new lens through which to understand safety and regulation. It includes the survey used in the groundbreaking ACE Study, which discovered a clear connection between early childhood trauma and chronic health problems. For therapists working with both adults and children and anyone dealing with symptoms that typically arise from early childhood trauma–anxiety, behavioral issues, depression, metabolic disorders, migraine, sleep problems, and more–this book offers fresh hope.

    Focusing on the dynamics of narcissism in interpersonal relations, Shaw describes the relational system of what he terms the 'traumatizing narcissist' as a system of subjugation - the objectification of one person in a relationship as the means of enforcing the dominance of the subjectivity of the other.Daniel Shaw illustrates the workings of this relational system of subjugation in a variety of contexts: theorizing traumatic narcissism as an intergenerationally transmitted relational/developmental trauma; and exploring the clinician's experience working with the adult children of traumatizing narcissists. He explores the relationship of cult leaders and their followers, and examines how traumatic narcissism has lingered vestigially in some aspects of the psychoanalytic profession.Bringing together theories of trauma and attachment, intersubjectivity and complementarity, and the rich clinical sensibility of the Relational Psychoanalysis tradition, Shaw demonstrates how narcissism can best be understood not merely as character, but as the result of the specific trauma of subjugation, in which one person is required to become the object for a significant other who demands hegemonic subjectivity. Traumatic Narcissism presents therapeutic clinical opportunities not only for psychoanalysts of different schools, but for all mental health professionals working with a wide variety of modalities. Although primarily intended for the professional psychoanalyst and psychotherapist, this is also a book that therapy patients and lay readers will find highly readable and illuminating.

    It has been useful in treating emotional trauma and grief, as a supplement to pain and symptom management, to address psychological distress, and to encourage self-growth and actualization. The Art Therapy Sourcebook is a guide for people who want to use art as a way of understanding themselves better. It starts with information on necessary supplies and takes the reader on a journey toward understanding the connection between artistic images and human emotions.

    All the children survived. This bizarre event signaled the beginning of Lenore Terrs landmark study on the effect of trauma on children. In this book Terr shows how trauma has affected not only the children shes treated but all of us.

    Guide to Educate Children Diagnosed with Autism Through Applied Behavior Analysis

    With welcome clarity and sanity, Mick Cooper efficiently lays out the concepts, techniques and directions adopted by several key figures in the broad field of existentially informed psychotherapy. In an excellent first chapter, Mick Cooper pointed out my `ontic′ from my `ontological′; and I could see, behind the long-words-with-dashes, the true resonance of these ideas with real human and therapeutic issues, dilemmas and goals′ - Clinical Psychology `This book proves to be a real treasure chest: what you always wanted to know about existential psychotherapy but failed to find anywhere else in such a comprehensive, clear and concise manner. In that sense, this publication provides a missing link. One merit of the book is its systematic structure. As extensive, and in part as heterogeneous as existential philosophy and therapy also maybe, Mick Cooper had nevertheless been able to build convincing clusters with, on the one hand, an enormous understanding of details and, on the other, a far-sightedness that, like a map, provides orientation in the diversity of existential therapy. I really appreciate this publication and can recommend it very strongly′ - Person-Centred and Experiential Psychotherapies `Existential Therapies will I suspect, suddenly make existentialism come alive. The author, Mick Cooper loves his subject, it fascinates and enthrals him, and we get to experience some of that, even though the book is academic. The connections and overlaps with person-centred psychology are there for us to be, but so are the differences′ - Person-Centred Practice `As an overview of a number of different existential therapies the book is extremely welcome and manages in a relatively short space to cover a wide arena. Overall I rate the book highly. To pull together a large and somewhat disparate literature, then make sense of it and finally retains the reader′s interest, is difficult′ - Existential Analysis `Mick Cooper has done an impressive job in writing a much needed, current and user friendly survey of the field of existential therapies. If I were to teach this course, I would use this book. I applaud Mick Cooper for having admirably achieved the aim he set out to achieve. All this makes Mick Cooper′s book a must-read for anyone wishing to explore the topic of existential therapy′ - Society for Laingian Studies Website `What makes this book unique is that all the different strands of Existential philosophy are always clearly linked to practice′ - Counselling and Psychotherapy Journal `This is a very fresh book, not treading well-worn paths and genuinely informing us about a small but important field. This is really an indispensable book for anyone who wants to understand existentialist approaches to therapy′ - Self and Society `This publication marks a milestone providing an excellent, clear and critical overview of the contrasting forms of the approach as it is currently practised′ - Emmy van Deurzen, New School of Psychotherapy and Counselling, Schiller University, London `This is a book of superb thoroughness and scholarship - an unprecedented guide to existential therapy′s chief positions and controversies′ - Kirk J Schneider, President of the Existential-Humanistic Institute, USA `Combines scholarship with a writing style that makes difficult concepts accessible. This book should be required reading on any course where the existential tradition plays a part, and that includes person-centred courses and all sympathetic to the idea that psychotherapy is, in essence, a human encounter where warmth, understanding and a deep respect for the individual are key values′ - Tony Merry, University of East London What does it mean to practice in an existential way? What are the different existential approaches? What are their strengths and limitations? Existential Therapies addresses these key questions, and more, by providing students and practitioners with an invaluable introduction to the diverse and multifaceted world of existential therapeutic practices.Focusing on practical, face-to-face work with clients, the book:- introduces readers to six key existential therapies- discusses key figures and their contributions, including Irvin Yalom, Emmy van Deurzen, Ernesto Spinelli, Viktor Frankl and R D Laing- compares and contrasts the various approaches,highlighting areas of commonality and difference- outlines key debates within the existential therapy field- provides detailed suggestions for further readingExistential Therapies offers students and practitioners of all orientations much that they can incorporate into their own therapeutic work, and each approach is vividly brought to life through therapist-client dialogues and case studies. Written in an accessible, warm, and engaging manner, Existential Therapies is an essential introduction to this rich, vibrant and stimulating field.

    They cannot accept their true selves, constructing instead fixed masks that hide emotional numbness. Influenced by forces in culture and predisposed by factors in the human personality, narcissists tend to be: • More concerned with how they appear than what they feel • Seductive and manipulative, striving for power and control • Egotists, focused on their own interests but lacking the true values of the self -- self-expression, self-possession, dignity, and integrity • Without a solid sense of self, which leads them to experience life as empty and meaningless In this groundbreaking study, Dr. Alexander Lowen uses his extensive clinical experience to demonstrate how narcissists can recover their suppressed feelings and regain their lost humanity. By the use of Bioenergetic Analysis, the psychotherapy created by Dr. Lowen, a new possibility of a fulfilling and authentic life is presented for people with narcissistic characteristics and for those who interact with them.

    The views and strategies of a master clinician are presented here in such clear and precise form that readers can proceed directly from the book with comparisons and modifications to suit their own styles and working situations.Salvador Minuchin presents six chapter-length transcripts of actual family sessions--two devoted to ordinary families who are meeting their problems with relative success; four concerned with families seeking help. Accompanying each transcript is the author's running interpretation of what is taking place, laying particular stress on the therapist's tactics and maneuvers.These lively sessions are interpreted in a brilliant theoretical analysis of why families develop problems and what it takes to set them right. The author constructs a model of an effectively functioning family and defines the boundaries around its different subsystems, whether parental, spouse, or sibling. He discusses ways in which families adapt to stress from within and without, as they seek to survive and grow.Dr. Minuchin describes methods of diagnosing or "mapping" problems of the troubled family and determining appropriate therapeutic goals and strategies. Different situations, such as the extended family, the family with a parental child, and the family in transition through death or divorce, are examined. Finally, the author explores the dynamics of change, examining the variety of restructuring operations that can be employed to challenge a family and to change its basic patterns.

    This book demonstrates how to use this knowledge to create a language of meaning for people's difficulties.

    F. Skinner that analyzes human behavior, encompassing what is traditionally called language, linguistics, or speech. For Skinner, verbal behavior is subject to the same controlling variables as any other operant behavior, although Skinner differentiates between verbal behavior which is mediated by other people, and that which is mediated by the natural world. The book “Verbal Behavior” is almost entirely theoretical, involving little experimental research in the work itself. It was an outgrowth of a series of lectures first presented at the University of Minnesota in the early 1940s and developed further in his summer lectures at Columbia and William James lectures at Harvard in the decade before the book’s publication. A growing body of research and applications based on “Verbal Behavior” has occurred since its original publication, particularly in the past decade.