Full Description
Discover Challenging the Fantasy Bond, the much-anticipated follow-up to Firestone amp rsquo s critically acclaimed and bestselling The Fantasy Bond, which tackles the complex question of why so many of us are compelled to repeat the pain of our past while avoiding positive experiences that could enrich our lives.
Creating a Life of Meaning and Compassion offers a compilation of mature therapeutic insights that are valuable in achieving a better way of living. It describes a unique experiment in applied psychology whereby a group of individuals overcame a wide range of defensive behaviors and transformed their lives. The book documents the knowledge they acquired along the way and offers corrective suggestions based on their experiences. Most important, the authors indicate how the insights achieved can be applied by therapists in clinical practice.
This book offers a comprehensive guide for helping professionals and other people who are interested in their personal development, deepening their friendships, sustaining intimacy in their couple relationships, achieving success in the workplace, and developing healthy child-rearing practices. It points out the value of leading a life marked by adventure and recreation, transcendent goals, and spiritual exploration, and offers fresh views on the past, present, and future of psychotherapy.
Contents
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
I. The Challenge
A Vision of a Meaningful Life
Factors That Impede Personal Development
II. Overcoming Barriers To Psychological Development
Disrupting Fantasy Processes
Challenging Addictive, Self-Nurturing Lifestyles
A Feeling Versus Nonfeeling Existence
Coping With Anger, Passivity, and a Victimized Point of View
Generosity Versus Withholding
Challenging Self-Destructive, Microsuicidal, and Suicidal Tendencies
Defenses Against Death Anxiety
III. Restoring Intimacy in Relationships
Couple Relationships
Sexuality
Family Relationships
Child-Rearing
IV. Philosophical Considerations
Protecting the Rights of the Individual in Couples and Families
Societal Forces: Malevolent and Benevolent
Psychotherapy: Past, Present, and Future?
The Therapeutic Value of Friendship
Spirituality, Mystery, and the Search for Meaning
Epilogue
References
Author Index
Subject Index
About the Authors
