Full Description
Psychotherapy Case Studies is composed of 11 compelling and emotionally intimate stories that illuminate the hidden psychological forces shaping our lives and the path to genuine freedom. These jargon-free narratives re-envision therapy as a sacred journey in which the therapist accompanies patients through their deepest struggles and creates an accepting home for the full spectrum of their lives.
Through stories spanning the depths of psychological despair and the heights of spiritual illumination, the book weaves Eastern contemplative and Western psychoanalytic wisdom, demonstrating the extraordinary healing that is possible when the therapist is like an emotional jazz improviser who is free and creative and approaches each person as unique. Each case reveals our unsuspected capacity not just to cope, but to thrive amid life's challenges.
Written for both beginning and seasoned therapists, students of psychology, and anyone curious about the transformative power of authentic human connection, these inspiring stories offer sustenance and hope in challenging times.
Contents
1. Nothing But Net: How Basketball Led Me to Buddhism and Psychoanalysis 2. Absorb What is Useful ... Add What is Specifically Your Own: Bruce Lee and Me 3. One Size Never Fits All: The Birthday Party Nobody Attended 4. The Psychotherapist as Jazz Improviser: A Walk on the Wild Side 5. The Incomparable Power of Human Understanding: Searching for Emotional Sanity Underneath the Madness 6. Meditating on Failure: "I'd Like to Get to Know You Better" 7. Curing the Patient of the Illness Created by Their Self-Cure: Healing the Trauma of Neglect in a Zen Buddhist Master 8. The Reluctant Sensei: Zen and Self-Healing 9. Memorials of Our Unwitnessed Pain: Suicide is a Lonely Affair 10. Our Symptoms Are Our Teachers: The Man Who Gave Birth to His Wife 11. On Being a Zen Psychoanalyst: The Union of Presence, Meaning, and Intimacy 12. The World is Too Much with Us: When Dead Whales, Bigotry, and Vaccinations Join Us in Sessions 13. Escaping the Prison You Didn't Know You Were In: The Covid Jailbreak
