Searching for the Perfect Woman The Story of a Complete Psychoanalysis
Produktdetaljer
Biografisk notat
Vamik D. Volkan, M.D. is the Senior Erik Erikson Scholar at the Erikson Institute of Education and Research of the Austen Riggs Center, an emeritus professor of psychiatry at the University of Virginia, an emeritus training and supervising analyst at the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute, and a guest lecturer at the Berkshire Psychoanalytic Institute.J. Christopher Fowler, Ph.D. is director of research at the Erik H. Erikson Institute, Austen Riggs Center. He is a fellow of the Society for Personality Assessment, consulting editor for the Journal of Personality Assessment, and a member of the Society for Psychotherapy Research.This is an eminent basic psychoanalytic text—based on a case history—by an empathic, classical analyst, working with a generous, interesting patient. Both beginners and experienced analysts can profit from it. Volkan also succeeds in showing the importance of transgenerational transmission and its power in creating symptoms and personality traits.
- Tomas Böhm M.D., Swedish Psychoanalytic Society,
Vamik Volkan is renowned for bringing his psychoanalytic knowledge and insight to problems on a world scale. Here he applies his gifts to the microcosm of an individual psychoanalysis, the story of two people wrestling with the demons of one man's past to achieve his personal liberation and rebirth. Readers of all kinds will be moved and enlightened by the access Volkan offers to the process. Professional readers at all levels of experience can learn here from a master craftsman about technique, the true application of empathy, and the personal grit demanded of the analyst. The innovative structure of the book provides a sophisticated and sensitive interlocutor in J. Christopher Fowler, who speaks for the reader to enhance our understanding of Volkan's thoughts, feelings, and choices.
- Kerry Kelly Novick, Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute, author of "Working with Parents Makes Therapy Work",
Volkan and Fowler have given us a gem of a story and a rare opportunity to slow it down and examine the inner workings of a successful psychoanalysis. With Fowler as interlocuter, we are with the analyst as he hears the patient's material, notices what goes through his mind, lets his feelings inform him, speaks and then listens to what comes back. We feel an accruing appreciation for the deep historicity of human lives and the intertwining of technique and relationship in the consulting room. Like the patient and the analyst, we come away from this encounter profoundly enriched, not only by our renewed understanding of the work of a clinical psychoanalysis—its pulse, pain and beauty—but also by the joy of it as well.
- M. Gerard Fromm, PhD, ABPP, Austen Riggs Center,
This is not your typical psychotherapy case; it is the story of one man's inner struggle to find peace and happiness in an internal world filled with dangerous father figures and tempting but rejecting femme fatales. Training analyst, author, and four-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee Vamik Volkan weaves a compelling story of Hamilton's complete psychoanalysis. From one angle, it is an evocative, accessible page-turner, drawing readers from the professional world and the lay public into the inner life of a compulsive womanizer, and the psychoanalytic treatment that brought about massive change in his inner life and personal relationships. From another angle, it is about the profound influence of historical traumas transmitted across generations and how not only an individual's parents' personal trauma, but also ancestors' historical traumas, reverberate in the current generation. Our ancestors' suffering during wars, for example, does not disappear when our ancestors die or when wars end, but continues to influence their offspring. For the deeply inquisitive person and serious students of psychoanalysis, this is an opportunity to learn about psychoanalytic theory and technique applied to a single case.
The book confronts the question "Does psychoanalysis help?" Through this detailed account of the psychoanalytic treatment processes, the reader witnesses the slow but compelling changes in Hamilton's internal world. Interspersed throughout the manuscript, J. Christopher Fowler, an experienced therapist, clinical researcher, and educator, challenges Volkan to explain how his psychoanalytic techniques affect changes in Hamilton's mind.
Chapter 1 1. Dr. Schreber's Shadow
Chapter 2 2. A Boy in a Mailbox
Chapter 3 3. Inky Messes
Chapter 4 4. Pineapple Upside-down Cake
Chapter 5 5. Madonna and the Dead Child
Chapter 6 6. Shrinking the Torture Chamber
Chapter 7 7. Finding and Letting Go a Warm Breast
Chapter 8 8. Why Did Ataturk Encourage Turkish Women to Remove Their Veils?
Chapter 9 9. Joining the Man's World
Chapter 10 10. You Have Your Tools and I Have Mine
Chapter 11 11. The Gulf War and the Mannequins of the American Civil War
Chapter 12 12. Taking Stock
Chapter 13 13. A Blue Ribbon Family
Chapter 14 14. Years Later
New Imago: Series in Theoretical, Clinical, and Applied Psychoanalysis is a scholarly and professional publishing imprint devoted to all aspects of psychoanalytic inquiry and research in theoretical, clinical, philosophical, and applied psychoanalysis. It is inclusive in focus, hence fostering a spirit of plurality, respect, and tolerance across the psychoanalytic domain. The series aspires to promote open and thoughtful dialogue across disciplinary and interdisciplinary fields in mental health, the humanities, and the social and behavioral sciences. It furthermore wishes to advance psychoanalytic thought and extend its applications to serve greater society, diverse cultures, and the public at large. The editorial board is comprised of the most noted and celebrated analysts, scholars, and academics in the English speaking world and is representative of every major school in the history of psychoanalytic thought.
Series Editors: Jon Mills, University of Essex, Adelphi University, and New School for Existential Psychoanalysis
Advisory Board: Associate Editor: Ronald C. Naso, , Editorial Board: Roger Brooke; Wilma Bucci; Fred Busch; Marilyn Charles; Bruce Fink; Peter Fonagy; Glen Gabbard; Oren Gozlan; Aner Govrin; R.D. Hinshelwood; Julia Kristeva; Edgar Levenson; Arnold Modell; Anthony Molino; Thomas Ogden; Adam Phillips; Howard Stein; Paul Verhaeghe; Vamik Volkan; Polly Young-Eisendrath; and Roy Barsness