Despair and the Return of Hope: Echoes of Mourning in Psychotherapy

Rating:
Summary: A Unique and Creative Contribution to the Therapeutic Proces
Review: Dr. Shabad does an outstanding job of bringing the concepts of despair and hope into the psychotherapeutic conversation on a variety of levels. Dr. Shabad brings an abundance of insight into this book, a work not filled with fancy jargon, but thoughtful insights from the author's experience and clinical work. He courageously confronts the importance of death in both life and psychotherapy, and, from there, provides a penetrating analysis of disillusionment and mourning as they work themselves in and out of the therapeutic process. Dr. Shabad's book is full of original insights that one does not find in the work of most other theorists. He addresses with fresh originality such diverse issues as the repetition compulsion, resistance to relinquishing symptoms, self-betrayal, and conscience. I highly recommend this book to all who seek a greater understanding of the therapeutic process.

Rating:
Summary: A Unique and Creative Contribution to the Therapeutic Proces
Review: Dr. Shabad does an outstanding job of bringing the concepts of despair and hope into the psychotherapeutic conversation on a variety of levels. Dr. Shabad brings an abundance of insight into this book, a work not filled with fancy jargon, but thoughtful insights from the author's experience and clinical work. He courageously confronts the importance of death in both life and psychotherapy, and, from there, provides a penetrating analysis of disillusionment and mourning as they work themselves in and out of the therapeutic process. Dr. Shabad's book is full of original insights that one does not find in the work of most other theorists. He addresses with fresh originality such diverse issues as the repetition compulsion, resistance to relinquishing symptoms, self-betrayal, and conscience. I highly recommend this book to all who seek a greater understanding of the therapeutic process.

Rating:
Summary: A Moving and Truthful Book, If a Bit Hopeful
Review: I'd like Shabad to analyze me. He takes the best of the interpersonalists and object-relationalists, views them alternately through lenses of common sense and a rigorous optimism, all framed by a more or less existential approach. It's great to see Ernest Becker invoked alongside Freud, Rank, Winnicott, Benjamin, Bollas, Mitchell, and Fromm. Shabad is of the school that sees therapy as, more or less, truth-telling, and he sees technique as a reflection of the concept of truth -- which he privileges, but in a way that doesn't smack of sentimentality in the least. In fact Shabad seems quite at home with the darkness of human life. He doesn't equate darkness with pessimism, however.

At times Shabad's clinical descriptions lack texture; and at times he does indeed seem to be "reinventing the wheel" as he cautions against. His writing can feel a bit rushed and abstract where one would like it to be more specific and patient. But ultimately he has written a masterpiece. I have never seen narcissism explained and investigated in this way -- the contemporary American middle-class caretaking character has never been better dramatized and empathized with. If you suffer from narcissism, or find yourself constantly entrenched with narcissistic people, you will undoubtedly find yourself in these pages, seen with a specificity to which no one else I'm aware of comes close. Shabad is a real person with a real theory designed for real situations. Jargon-free, hopeful, and unflinching, he deserves a wide and careful readership.

Rating:
Summary: Enlightening and Inspiring
Review: Peter Shabad, an experienced and talented psychologist, has written a profound book based on the insights he has gained over the many years of his clinical practice. With his sharp intellect and his compassionate attitude, Dr. Shabad faces the big questions of existence. He examines the complex motivations that block individuals from living satisfying and fulfilling lives. His ideas are thought-provoking and original; his writing is poetic and evocative. The text is enriched by countless examples from clinical practice, literature, film, and from the author's personal life experiences. The book is written clearly and without jargon, and is accessible to a wide audience. It can be appreciated by mental health professionals as well as by other reflective readers who are curious about human behavior and about the psychotherapy process.