Letting go and (re)discovering oneself is a central question for parents when their children leave home. A new phase of life begins, bringing with it complex and varied feelings. This text helps parents deal with their new identity, free of parental duties, with a focus on the process of "loss".

Letting Go and Finding Yourself

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Kast, Verena

Psychology & Counseling

Bloomsbury Academic

In the case of "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" - one of two tales retold and interpreted in this volume by noted Jungian psychotherapist Verena Kast - the "open sesame" formula occurs in situations of actual or emotional impoverishment, when we find ourselves in some way restricted. The opening reveals hidden treasures: the experience of opening up allows the great treasure within to be revealed. The Myth of Sisyphus, the second story in this volume, also has a deeper meaning. The eternal repetition faced by Sisyphus, as well as by all of us in our daily lives - at times when change would be most welcome - is not unlike the situation of the patient in therapy. "Won't I ever get a grip on my problems?" What is most important is to see the repetition for what it is and to reflect on the subtle changes that occur through this difficult process. In the best sense, Fairy Tales for the Psyche entertains and instructs, giving deeper meaning to well-known stories and, at the same time, to our lives.

Fairy Tales for the Psyche: Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves and the Myth of Sisyphus

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Continuum Intl Pub Group

When adults read fairy tales, they are generally not just interested in what happens to the characters: they also reflect on the deeper meaning and the "moral" of the story. This compact volume includes the text of Grimms' lesser-known "Mermaid in the Pond", followed by Verena Kast's interpretation of the tale. For those of us stuck in day-to-day routines, Kast shows how to take a reading of our own "passion barometer" by making this story of love, betrayal, death, transformation and renewal our own. Through exploration of our deepest emotions regarding interpersonal relationships - in story, symbol and myth - we can finally overcome our insecurities and fears to acknowledge, and then communicate, what really turns us on.

The Mermaid in the Pond: An Erotic Fairy Tale for Adults

Literature & Fiction

Agnew, Vanessa

Erotica

The Dynamics of Symbols: Fundamentals of Jungian Psychotherapy (Fromm Psychology)

According to Carl Jung, the goal of human life is self realization; we have to strive to become whole. Deep down, we are all creative beings, and we have to make use of our creativity to become what we really are. Kast explores Jung's concept of the human being and describes the path to wholeness which, since Jung, is known as the individuation process.It becomes clear that wholeness is only possible through the interplay between conscious and unconscious. However, the two have different languages: consciousness uses word-logic, whereas the unconscious uses dream-logic. Both languages would be forever foreign to each other, were it not for symbols, which mediate between the two: our unconscious encodes its knowledge in symbols, which we then have to translate into the language of our consciousness. Thus symbols are focal points of psychic development, and it is through them that we can become whole human beings.Jung taught us the techniques with which we can make the creative core of the unconscious available to consciousness. Kast explains them by using numerous examples from her daily work as a therapist. She shows us how psychological problems can be overcome by working on the symbols in which they express themselves.In a language that can be readily grasped by the general reader, Kast goes on to explain the basic thought of Jungian psychotherapy, covering the correlation between symbols and complexes, with a special emphasis on the ego-complex; the healing function of the archetypes and how they appear in, and interact with, symbols; and symbols in transference and countertransference, powerful tools in psychotherapy. Kast also discusses the interplay of psychosomatic diseases and symbols.The Dynamics of Symbols is not only of immediate interest to all psychologists and their patients. It is of direct concern to everyone who has the desire to become a whole human being.

The Dynamics of Symbols: Fundamentals of Jungian Psychotherapy

Medical Books

Fromm Intl

The imagination has long been employed as a therapeutic tool, as imaginings help us understand our unconscious fears and desires. Typically, these are what we might call passive imaginings, in which fantasies arise that may be subsequently interpreted. Carl Jung radically developed this concept further by introducing Active Imagination, a process by which the creative powers of the unconscious produce images which are then addressed by the ego. This results in dialogues between the ego and the unconscious which have tremendous therapeutic value. These dialogues can be continued over long periods of time, and can ultimately heal body and soul. Professor Kast explains the imaginative method in clear, understandable terms. She vividly describes various kinds of images and presents many cases from her psychotherapeutic practice which exemplify Active Imagination at work. She introduces a plethora of intervention strategies, methods which the ego (or therapist) can use to control obstructive and threatening images. In Verena Kast's lively account, Active Imagination emerges as a powerful method which can initiate deep inner transformation. It is a method that enables us to change into who we really are inside, releasing the potential that lies within, and leading us into a space of freedom and independence.

Imagination As Space of Freedom: Dialogue Between the Ego and the Unconscious (Fromm Psychology)

Throughout her work, Verena Kast has stressed the importance of emotions. If we don't take them seriously and try to avoid them, we become psychological cripples, unable to unfold our true selves and realize our potential. In Through Emotions to Maturity Dr. Kast looks at eight classic fairy tales that deal with different aspects of emotions which are difficult to endure - anxiety, fear, and angst. In trying to overcome them, we may enter into a symbiotic relationship which gives us the illusion of being protected: by fusing with a group of people, an institution, or another person, etc., we feel safe and sound, while at the same time we suffocate psychologically, losing our freedoms and the ability to grow. The fairy tales discussed in this volume illustrate the danger of psychological symbiosis as an attempt to escape fear. Yet they also offer alternatives. Originally told for adults, fairy tales stem from dreams and contain the wisdom of our unconscious. If we decipher their images and symbols, they release a knowledge that can be of extreme importance to us. Under Kast's authoritative guidance, fairy tales thus offer us a way out of the cycle of fear and symbiosis.

Through Emotions to Maturity: Psychological Readings of Fairy Tales

Book by Kast, Verena, Kast, Kerena

Kast, Kerena

Self-Help

The imagination has long been employed as a therapeutic tool, as imaginings help us understand our unconscious fears and desires. Typically, these are what we might call passive imaginings, in which fantasies arise that may be subsequently interpreted.Carl Jung radically developed this concept further by introducing Active Imagination, a process by which the creative powers of the unconscious produce images which are then addressed by the ego. This results in dialogues between the ego and the unconscious which have tremendous therapeutic value. These dialogues can be continued over long periods of time, and can ultimately heal body and soul.Professor Kast explains the imaginative method in clear, understandable terms. She vividly describes various kinds of images and presents many cases from her psychotherapeutic practice which exemplify Active Imagination at work. She introduces a plethora of intervention strategies, methods which the ego (or therapist) can use to control obstructive and threatening images.In Verena Kast's lively account, Active Imagination emerges as a powerful method which can initiate deep inner transformation. It is a method that enables us to change into who we really are inside, releasing the potential that lies within, and leading us into a space of freedom and independence.

Imagination As Space of Freedom: Dialogue Between the Ego and the Unconscious

Joy, Inspiration, and Hope (CAROLYN AND ERNEST FAY SERIES IN ANALYTICAL PSYCHOLOGY)

Also available in an open-access, full-text edition at http://oaktrust.library.tamu.edu/handle/1969.1/85766“Emotion is an expression of the self,” Verena Kast writes in this ground-breaking study of the neglected emotions of joy, inspiration, and hope. “If we decide we no longer want to hide behind empty shells, then we will have to allow certain emotions more room. We will have to let ourselves laugh louder, cry louder, and shout for joy.” Kast skillfully and engagingly makes the case that not only therapists and analysts but also individuals seeking growth in their own lives should give more attention to the elated emotions. Fear of excess (mania) and analytic preoccupation with grief, anxiety, and depression have together caused joy and hope to be shunned as a focus in individuation (the process toward wholeness). Kast convincingly demonstrates the role of joy in relationship and existential involvement. Joy answers the human need for elated feeling and meaning in our lives, a need which is often filled in modern society by secularized parodies of religious ecstasy, such as addiction and compulsiveness. Kast explores the Dionysian myth as an archetypal image of the transforming effect of ecstasy on the personality. She considers Sisyphus, the absurd hero of French existentialism, as the symbol for rejection of false hope and joy, rejection which clears the way for true hope rooted in basic trust and the positive mother archetype. She suggests simple techniques for recapturing our joy through development of an autobiography of joy. Using this approach, we can discover what gives us joy personally, how we can best experience joy, and how and why we choke off our joy. By viewing joy, inspiration, and hope as core emotions in our being, we open ourselves to greater wholeness and fuller life.

Joy, Inspiration, and Hope (Carolyn and Ernest Fay Series in Analytical Psychology)

Mental Health

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Kast, Verena. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Kast, Verena

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Kast, Verena. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Letting Go and Finding Yourself

Fairy Tales for the Psyche: Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves and the Myth of Sisyphus

The Mermaid in the Pond: An Erotic Fairy Tale for Adults

The Dynamics of Symbols: Fundamentals of Jungian Psychotherapy

The Dynamics of Symbols: Fundamentals of Jungian Psychotherapy (Fromm Psychology)

Imagination As Space of Freedom: Dialogue Between the Ego and the Unconscious (Fromm Psychology)

Through Emotions to Maturity: Psychological Readings of Fairy Tales

Through Emotions to Maturity: Psychological Readings of Fairy Tales

Imagination As Space of Freedom: Dialogue Between the Ego and the Unconscious

Joy, Inspiration, and Hope (Carolyn and Ernest Fay Series in Analytical Psychology)