Skewed to the Right

Amy Izycky

Phoenix Publishing House

The Cross of Carl: An Allegory

History

Walter Owen

Military

Iliassa Sequin was constantly altering and developing her poems, and we have chosen to publish those poems which are in a completed form. As if she were a musician, she worked with the notion of quintets and quartets. Admired by the literary avant-gardes of Europe and the USA, her artistic hesitation meant that little was published in her lifetime. We hope to redress this omission with this collection, and introduce her poetry to a larger audience.

Collected Complete Poems

Literature & Fiction

Iliassa Sequin

Poetry

Donald Meltzer coined the term 'aesthetic conflict' to describe the emotional complexities of the 'apprehension of beauty'. It had its roots in art, literature, infant observation, and above all, in clinical experience. This concept affirmed and illustrated Bion's formula of L, H, K (Love, Hate, and Knowledge), together with its negative (minus L, H, K) as a revision of Klein's fundamental emotional dynamics of Envy and Gratitude. As such, any emotional situation may be read in terms of either struggling with or retreating from the aesthetic conflict that occurs naturally at all key points of psychic development.Meltzer could be said to have encapsulated the essence of Bion's post-Kleinian trajectory when he wrote that 'If we follow Bion's thought closely, we see that the new idea presents itself as an emotional experience of the beauty of the world and its wondrous organisation.'The contributions in this book are by analysts and therapists from a wide variety of countries working with both children and adults. They have all, in individual ways, found 'aesthetic conflict' a useful frame of reference in terms of illuminating the significance of clinical observation, understanding countertransference responses, or practising the psychoanalytic method itself.

Aesthetic Conflict and Its Clinical Relevance

Politics & Social Sciences

Williams, Meg Harris

Philosophy

This volume contains a representative selection of talks and writings by Martha Harris and Donald Meltzer on the key developmental phase of adolescence, from their teachings both separately and together over many years. Similar books on this topic by these authors have existed for some time in Italian and in Spanish but not until now in English.

Adolescence: Talks and Papers by Donald Meltzer and Martha Harris

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Meltzer, Donald

Harris, Martha

Psychology & Counseling

Today sees the rise of nationalism, the return of totalitarian parties in Europe to electoral success, and the rise of the alt-right and white supremacists in the US. Thus, there is urgency for psychoanalysts, with their understanding of cruelty, sadomasochism, perversion, and other mental mechanisms, to speak out. Jonathan Sklar has risen to the challenge with this timely, thought-provoking, and, at times, upsetting work. Dark Times starts with a look at European history in terms of monuments and mourning, before moving into storytelling and the elision of thought and history at this current time, including harrowing detail of the brutalities inflicted by ISIS on the Yazidi, and concludes with a meditation on the relationship between cruelty in the early environment and hatred of the other within society, with particular focus on racism in the US.Sklar goes against the grain of brief sound bites, which are an aid to quickly pass over painful knowledge. Instead, he goes into detail to give extremely dark, horrid occurrences, and the human beings on the receiving end, respect and understanding, which enables the reader greater access to allowing unconscious things to be made more conscious, highlighting the quality of humanity in human beings. Also, listening to these stories enables us to become more aware, not only of what is going on over there, but also what is happening here, because in our increasingly joined-up world, here is always implicated and affected too. By ridding ourselves of the illusions of our political times, we can find greater freedom to think, develop, challenge, and create hope, for the future of our children and our grandchildren, as well as for ourselves.

Dark Times: Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Politics, History and Mourning

Sklar, Jonathan

How do you develop a truly rich and rewarding career in psychotherapy? How can you find joy in such painful work? How do you develop your skills in the field? How can you conquer your creative inhibitions? In short, how do you flourish as a psychotherapist? Brett Kahr answers these questions, and so many more, in his brilliant new book, painting a frank portrait of the life of the psychotherapist. Taking the reader through the life cycle of the therapist, he offers lots of practical advice, from assessing one’s suitability for the career, to managing one’s finances, to preparing for death. Kahr has produced a must-read, gripping account of how you can thrive in every respect in this complex and rewarding career.How to Flourish as a Psychotherapist should be required reading for every therapist, anyone considering taking up the career, and everyone who has ever wondered what kind of person becomes a therapist.

How to Flourish as a Psychotherapist

Kahr, Brett

Vamik Volkan examines the impact of past and present historical events, cultural elements, political movements and their mental images on the psyche of individuals. Beginning with the history of the debates concerning the relevance of external events to the human psyche, Volkan moves on to look at the spread of psychoanalysis worldwide and the need to become familiar with the cultural, historical, and political issues when working abroad. The remaining chapters follow the story of a successful businessman who calls himself a “Muslim Armenian”. His psychological journey clearly illustrates how ghosts from the past can remain alive and active in our lives, and how a clear understanding of his people’s history and culture allowed the analyst to understand some important causes of his symptoms and personality characteristics.By presenting a total case report, Volkan illustrates the methods applied to improve the analysand’s psychological health. By presenting a case from the viewpoint of a psychoanalytic supervisor, including the supervisor’s reactions to the individual being analysed, he has exposed another rich topic to consideration. With this book, Vamik Volkan has given us much to reflect upon.

Ghosts in the Human Psyche: The Story of a "Muslim Armenian"

Volkan, Vamık D.

David Levine and Mathew Bowker explore cultural and political trends organized around the conviction that the world we live in is a dangerous place to be, that it is dominated by hate and destruction, and that in it our primary task is to survive by carrying on a life-long struggle against hostile forces. Their method involves the analysis of public fantasies to reveal their hidden meanings. The central fantasy explored is the fantasy of a destroyed world, which appears most commonly in the form of post-apocalyptic and dystopian narratives. Their special concern in the book is with defenses against the painful consequences of the dominance of this fantasy in the inner world, especially defenses involving the use of guilt to assure that something can be done to repair the destroyed world.Topics explored include: the formation of internal fortresses and their projection into the world outside, forms of guilt including bystander guilt and survivor guilt, the loss of and search for home, and manic forms of reparation.

The Destroyed World and the Guilty Self: A Psychoanalytic Study of Culture and Politics

Biographies & Memoirs

Levine, David P.

Bowker, Matthew H.

Leaders & Notable People

Born to Turkish parents in Cyprus, Vamık Volkan moved to the US as a young man over half a century ago, where his career flourished in ways few could have foreseen. He is the founder of many worthwhile organisations and initiatives and his research and work have been applied into real-world international relations. Therefore, any book about Vamık Volkan is also a professional guide; the life of a professor and his real-life stories, a means towards understanding humanity, societies, memories, and modes of psychological treatment. Within, are many influential and widely accepted concepts that Dr. Volkan introduced to the wider world. This collaborative biography is full of fascinating insight into a modest man whose work took him to some of the most combative and volatile parts of the world, where his interventions had positive, real-world effects for us all. Professionals working within his field and also those outside will find it full of inspiration and innovation – a riveting read for anyone with an interest in international relations, which should be us all in these uncertain times.

A Psychoanalyst on His Own Couch: A Biography of Vamık Volkan and His Psychoanalytic and Psychopolitical Concepts

Atik, Ferhat

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

Books by Phoenix Publishing House