The Healing Connection: How Women Form Relationships in Therapy and in Life - Hardcover

Miller, Jean Baker; Stiver, Irene P.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0807029203 ISBN 13: 9780807029206

Publisher: Beacon Pr, 1997

Synopsis

Two decades after the publication of Toward a New Psychology of Women , Miller and Stiver outline its practical applications, demonstrating how women's experiences in relationships shape psychological health. They analyze the process of empathetic listening and responding, proving how such moments of connection lead to psychological growth, while the repeated experience of disconnection or the failure of empathy in relationships causes psychological problems. A new kind of psychotherapy is specified, in which the therapist becomes an active participant. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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Reviews

A succinct account of why some women have difficulties entering into ``growth-fostering'' relationships and how, with the help of therapy, they can grow in this regard. Miller (Toward a New Psychology of Women, 1976), one of the leading theorists of feminist psychology, and Stiver, former director of McLean Hospital's psychology department, bring a clear feminist perspective to their research, demonstrating how, for example, the experience of power inequities at work or in relationships can make women act in inhibited or ingratiating ways. Yet the authors' work has almost as much relevance for men, particularly in their probing and sensitive exploration of what they call ``strategies of disconnection,'' such as a disinclination to enter into intimate relationships or to emotionally engage a therapist. Miller and Stiver point to three major childhood sources of such emotional distancing: deep family secrets that children intuit and that sometimes haunt them; parental emotional inaccessibility; and family circumstances that ``parentify'' a child, that is, force the child to assume certain adult responsibilities in the home. Rather than viewing lack of therapeutic engagement as resistance, as traditional interpretations would have it, Baker and Stiver view such ``disconnection'' as a necessary strategy to protect a traumatized or otherwise vulnerable sense of self. The authors sometimes lapse into psychobabble, particularly in overusing the word ``empowering,'' one of the limper adjectives of contemporary popular psychology. But more often, their helpful book, which will be of interest to both clinicians and their clients, is written in clear-headed prose and features a significant number of useful case studies. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Once again therapists Stiver and Miller (Toward a New Psychology of Women, LJ 9/1/76) challenge the traditional views of human development. Their work focuses on women and the importance of growth-fostering connections in their day-to-day relationships. Empathy is the key word. If a "connection" or empathetic encounter does not take place, "disconnections" occur that over time can cause many psychological problems. The authors describe how this new understanding has changed the way they do therapy. Vivid examples from their own experience as therapists substantiate their views. The authors believe that their studies, done mainly with white women, are also relevant to women of other cultures and to men and have set the groundwork for further exploration in relational therapy. Extensive endnotes are included along with suggested readings. Recommended for general academic and public collections, essential for libraries with women's studies collections.?Elizabeth Goeters, DeKalb Coll. Lib., Dunwoody, Ga.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Beacon Pr
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0807029203
• ISBN 13: 9780807029206
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 231