Should You Leave?A writer who presents his vast knowledge of psychiatry with the art of a novelist, Peter D. Kramer imagines scenarios in which he addresses a series of advice seekers. Each "session" not only reveals the various styles of giving advice - from Freudian psychoanalytic techniques to Ann Landers's application of conventional values - but probes the complexities of human relationships: How do we choose our partners? How well do we know them? How do mood states affect our assessment of them and theirs of us? When should we work to improve a relationship, and when should we walk away? What does "working on a relationship" entail? Kramer's questions lead to a reconsideration of our culture's norms - and to a suggestion that we may have begun to over-value autonomy and assertiveness at the cost of intimacy and connectedness. |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Adam advice advising anhedonia Ann Landers autonomy aware behavior Belinda Bianca Buber Carl Rogers Cavell child couple culture demanding depression Dicks Dicks's differentiation divorce Donny Donny's Dorothy Schiff dyssemia emotional face fear feel flawed Freud friends Frink give Harry Stack Harry Stack Sullivan Havens Havens's husband ideal imagine intimacy Jean Baker Miller Jonnie Jonnie's leave Lena less look Lou's lover marital marriage married matter Miller mood disorder mother move Murray Bowen mutual projective identification Nagy Nikki paranoid parents partner patient perhaps person perspective problem psychiatrist psychoanalysis psychological psychotherapy question Randall reason relationship response romance Sándor Ferenczi schizophrenia seems selective inattention self-differentiation sense sexual Sigmund Freud skills social someone sort spouse stay story Sullivan Sullivanian Terry Terry's theory therapist therapy things thought tion traits trouble understand values wife woman women wonder young