Drawing from Kohut's conceptualisation of self, Riker sets out how contemporary America's formulation of persons as autonomous, self-sufficient individuals is deeply injurious to the development of a vitalizing self-structure—a condition which lies behind much of the mental illness and social malaise of today's world. By carefully attending to Kohut's texts, Riker explains the structural, functional, and dynamic dimensions of Kohut's concept of the self. He creatively extends this concept to show how the self can be conceived of as an erotic striving for connectedness, beauty, and harmony, separate from the ego. Riker uses this distinction to reveal how social practices of contemporary American society foster skills and traits to advance the aims of the ego for power and control, but tend to suppress the needs of the self to authentically express its ideals and connect with others. The book explores the impact that this view can have on clinical practice, and concludes by imaginatively constructing an ideal self-psychological society, using Plato's Republic as a touchstone. Informed by self psychology and philosophy, this book is essential reading for psychoanalysts, psychotherapists and philosophers, seeking to revisit and revise constructions of both self and humanity.

Drawing from Kohut's conceptualisation of self, Riker sets out how contemporary America's formulation of persons as autonomous, self-sufficient individuals is deeply injurious to the development of a vitalizing self-structure--a condition which lies behind much of the mental illness and social malaise of today's world. By carefully attending to Kohut's texts, Riker explains the structural, functional, and dynamic dimensions of Kohut's concept of the self. He creatively extends this concept to show how the self can be conceived of as an erotic striving for connectedness, beauty, and harmony, separate from the ego. Riker uses this distinction to reveal how social practices of contemporary American society foster skills and traits to advance the aims of the ego for power and control, but tend to suppress the needs of the self to authentically express its ideals and connect with others. The book explores the impact that this view can have on clinical practice, and concludes by imaginatively constructing an ideal self-psychological society, using Plato's Republic as a touchstone. Informed by self psychology and philosophy, this book is essential reading for psychoanalysts, psychotherapists and philosophers, seeking to revisit and revise constructions of both self and humanity.

This book offers an in-depth explanation of the concepts of self psychology and pragmatic steps for recognizing and using these concepts in clinical work, helping clinicians move from theory to practice. Both early and contemporary concepts in self psychology and intersubjectivity theory are discussed in successive chapters of the book, with illustrative examples drawn from the author’s experience working in diverse settings with a wide range of mental health practitioners. Individual chapters shed light on brief treatment, supervision, interpretation, development, agency and nuances of empathic communication, among other topics. In addressing these topics, specific tools for conceptualizing clinical data and guidelines for intervention are also described. The emphasis on helping people via a sustained focus on their internal, subjective experience and creating a new selfobject bond with the therapist unifies the chapters in this volume. With its rich clinical vignettes and accessible language, Self Psychology: Moving from Theory to Practice is also a valuable resource for supervisors and teachers of self psychology, whether in analytic training institutes, graduate schools of psychology, counseling and social work or continuing education programs.

The practice and the representation of flaying in the middle ages and after are considered in this provocative collection.

In Why It Is Good to be Good, John H. Riker shows how modernity's reigning concept of the self undermines moral life and lays the basis for the epidemic of cheating that is devastating social and economic institutions. He argues that by accepting Kohut's brilliant and original...

Human Behavior in the Social Environment: Interweaving the Inner and Outer Worlds is an essential human behavior textbook for social work students. The third edition emphasizes the biopsychosocial framework within a psychodynamic, developmental and life-course perspective and includes a brand new chapter on the psychosocial complexities of technological advances. Written by an experienced classroom teacher, faculty advisor and clinician, the text approaches development through the life cycle, discussing the challenges, tasks, and problems of each stage. Presenting complex concepts in a clear and understandable way, Human Behavior in the Social Environment: Includes 16 chapters which cover the diverse nature of the circumstances that practicing social workers will be exposed to, including cultural differences, mental health issues, and disability; Analyses several different theories, including psychoanalytic, ego psychology, cognitive-behavioral, and postmodern theories in a manner that enables students to engage critically with the subject matter; Includes case vignettes and material from literary works, biographies and newspapers, intertwined with learning exercises and suggestions for additional readings, forming an engaging and practical volume. Written specifically for social work students undertaking courses and modules on human behavior in the social environment, this book is also a valuable resource for beginning and advanced readers in human services, including nursing, medicine, public health, clinical psychology and counseling.

This must-have reference is a unique exploration of how the individual notion of 'self' and related constructs, such as early schemas and attachment styles, impact on psychopathology, psychotherapy processes and treatment outcomes for psychological disorders across DSM-5, such as depression, bipolar and schizophrenia spectrum disorders, anxiety and trauma, eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive and related disorders, autism, personality disorders, gender identity disorder, dementia and somatic problems such as chronic fatigue syndrome. It discusses the role of the concept of self in a wide range of existing theoretical and treatment frameworks, and relates these to real-life clinical issues and treatment implications. Emphasizing the importance of integrating an awareness of self constructs into evidence-based conceptual models, it offers alternative practical intervention techniques, suggesting a new way forward in advancing our understanding of psychological disorders and their treatment.

Volume 28 of The Annual features stimulating, original essays on the relationship between psychoanalysis and the neurosciences. Edelman's Neural Darwinism informs Barry's investigaton of the psychoanalytic theory of internalization and Fajardo's reassessment of "breaks in consciousness" whereas Gedo's hierarchical model of mental functioning informs Fisher's presentation of the treatment of an autistic child. Elsewhere, Hadley proposes a neurobiologically distinct motivational system devoted to the development of autonomy; Solms attempts to bridge psychoanalysis and the neurophysiology of dreaming; Levin and Trevarthen examine the relationship of conscious and unconscious functions to the executive control network (ECN) of the brain; Levin examines the contributions of chaos theory to psychoanalysis; and Modell explores metaphor as the crucial aspect of the developing mind and brain through which cognition itself occurs. Moraitis's examination of why analysis has been so slow to integrate its findings with the insights of contemporary neuroscience and cognitive psychology, and Sadow's reprise on the role of theory in the evolution of psychoanalysis usefully frame the contributions to this section. Section II of Volume 28 reengages a subject area for which The Annual has become well-known. The four characteristically excellent studies in applied psychoanalysis found here cover the effect of early father loss on the work of the American watercolorist Charles Burchfield, "The Creativity of Women," the unconscious influence of metaphor on attitudes and value judgments, and the application of self psychology to the dramas of Eugene O'Neill. It is altogether typical of this fine series that a collection of essays dedicated to the development of a psychobiologically sophisticated psychoanalysis should be followed by contributions that testify to the explanatory vitality of psychoanalysis with respect to issues of literature, art, and creativity.