Despair and the Return of Hope: Echoes of Mourning in PsychotherapyWhen unmourned experiences of helplessness and disavowed desires turn into a passive fatalism, people stop hoping for the best and fear the worst, despairing that the real world has anything good to offer. This can lead individuals to memorialize past sufferings through psychological symptoms and compulsive repetitions. Dr. Shabad discusses how patients, after many years of living a life limited by resentment, fear, and despair, can come to terms with their childhood experiences: a mother who can never be satisfied, a father who consistently buries his head in the newspaper. He explains how people can overcome hardships endured and losses suffered. The authentic spontaneous dialogue between therapist and patient provides the generosity and courage necessary to shed their now obsolete defenses and mourn what cannot be remedied or replaced. Rich clinical material demonstrates how mourning can bring about self-acceptance, and set individuals free to take responsibility for and live out their own personal truths. This is a deeply felt, and beautifully written tribute to the redemptive power of psychotherapy and to the regenerative capabilities in all human beings. |
Contents
Death Meaning and Human Relations | 3 |
Human | 35 |
DISILLUSIONMENT DEFENSE AND | 55 |
Copyright | |
11 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
Despair and the Return of Hope: Echoes of Mourning in Psychotherapy Peter C. Shabad Limited preview - 2007 |
Despair and the Return of Hope: Echoes of Mourning in Psychotherapy Peter C. Shabad Limited preview - 2001 |
Common terms and phrases
able adult aggressor analyst Anne anxiety attempt baby baby's become caretaking child childhood compulsion conscience consciousness continuity countertransference created creative death defensive depersonalizing derealizing desires desperate developmental disillusionments emotional encopresis envious evil eye envy experience fantasies father fear feel felt freedom Freud frustration Gary gift girlfriend give Grand Inquisitor guilt Hank helplessness human ideal illusion imagine individuals inhibit internal introjected isolation lives lonely suffering mask means memory mental mother mourning narcissism narcissistic never object obsessional omnipotence one's oneself ourselves parents passion patients Perhaps person psychic loss psychoanalytic psychotherapy reality realize receive reflects regret relationship repetition compulsion resentment rience sadomasochistic self-consciousness self-enclosed sense Shabad shame speak spite superego survivor survivor guilt symptoms thera therapeutic therapist therapy tion tive transference transform trauma traumatic theme treatment uncon unconscious undo vulnerability W. S. Merwin Winnicott wishes yearning