Psychotherapy: Lives Intersecting - Softcover

Breger, Louis

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1138513768 ISBN 13: 9781138513761

Publisher: Routledge, 2017

Synopsis

In the best therapeutic tradition, Louis Breger describes contemporary theories and research in the field of analytic psychotherapy. Through the framework of his personal experiences as a scholar, researcher, and therapist, he focuses on his relationships with patients over the span of his fifty-year career. He records their reactions, in their own words, to their experience with psychotherapy many years after its conclusion. The author surveyed over thirty former patients to see if their progress, begun in therapy, had continued, expanded, or regressed. They were asked to highlight what they remembered as being most helpful, therapeutic, or curative in their treatment. The book is a unique long-term follow-up demonstrating the effectiveness of modern analytic psychotherapy.

Breger primarily deals with the connections between therapist and patient. This is a professional memoir of the life of the psychotherapist dealing with trials as a young practitioner, lessons learned, and personal reflections on the choices, including mistakes, made along the way. Young therapists, and those who are in or considering psychotherapy, will find it helpful to have access to this self-reflective approach.

Extracts from the patients are extensive and informative, giving the reader the opportunity to see therapy from their perspectives. The book also centers on the development of the therapist over his career span. Breger acknowledges that his understanding of patient care has improved over time in the eyes of his patients. In a larger sense, the book contains lessons for all psychotherapists. This is an important, unique, and innovative work.

*Click here for an interview with the author.

*Click here for an interview with the author on KQED's Forum with Michael Krasny

About this title

From the Author:

Thank you for visiting the Amazon.com page for my book, PSYCHOTHERAPY: Lives Intersecting.

Readers and Fans: Please use the Reader Reviews section to share your thoughts about my book. You can track me around the country in the Events section on my author page at Amazon.com. I will soon have a blog for interesting news related to my books. Please feel free to drop me a line at lbreger [at] comcast [dot] net. I'll reply as often as possible.

AUDIO: You can listen to an interview with me on KQED Public Radio Forum with Michael Krasny at the following address: bit.ly/LGZXnx

Book Reviewers: Please send your contact information, including who you review for and links to previous reviews, and I'll send you a review copy of the book and a press kit. You can reach me at lbreger [at] comcast [dot] net.

Teachers: Please send your contact information and a link to your class and I'll send you an examination copy of the book for your consideration. Textbooks can be ordered through my publisher, Transaction Publications, at tinyurl.com/79vposg

Psychologists and Psychiatrists: Copies of PSYCHOTHERAPY: Lives Intersecting are available at discount for group orders. For more information, contact orders [at] transactionpub [dot] com.

Thanks for all your support. Please let me know if I can answer any questions.
Yours Sincerely,
Lou Breger

From the Inside Flap:

Selected Quotations from
PSYCHOTHERAPY: Lives Intersecting

"This book is aimed at all those people who are considering treatment for their psychological and emotional difficulties. It should also be of interest to therapists from a variety of backgrounds, as well as students in the field." (p. ix)
 
"This book explores contemporary analytic psychotherapy in its full complexity, drawing on the responses of many of the patients I have seen over the last fifty years as they describe, in their own words, what was helpful and not helpful in our work together." (p. ix)
 
"These accounts will be presented by the patients themselves as opposed to the typical account written by the therapist or psychoanalyst." (p. x)
 
"The patients speak in their own voices, with insight, humor, and compassion for themselves and others." (p. 120)
 
"Any therapy becomes compromised when it hardens into dogma." (p. 4)
 
"Successful therapeutic outcomes depend more on the kind of person the therapist/analyst is than his or her theory-based technique." (p. 31)
 
"Throughout the therapy experience with you, I always felt like a person in a relationship, rather than a specimen to be understood by you, and then explained back to me." "Elizabeth," a patient (p.ix)

"[T]he personal qualities of the therapist [are] more important to the success of the treatment than their theoretical orientation." (p.60)
 
"To see how [psychotherapy] affected the patients' lives many years later is unique in the field." (p. 127, note 7)
 
"It is impossible to work at a deep emotional level with people over long periods without developing real affection for them." (p. 113)
 
"Those who follow a CBT manual in a standardized way do not achieve positive results." (p. 60)
 
"[Freud] was also a man who craved heroic stature above all else, was intolerant of the ideas of others, reacted with hatred to those who disagreed with him, and was deeply authoritarian." (p. 70)
 
"A reasonable fee, or even a very low one, can be very therapeutic." (p. 122)

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1138513768
• ISBN 13: 9781138513761
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 154