Invisible Masters: Compulsions and the Fear That Drives Them

In a groundbreaking study of compulsive behavior, the author concludes that compulsions are primarily driven by a variety of fears. 25,000 first printing. Tour.

Manhattan psychotherapist Weinberg ( The Taboo Scarf ) examines the purpose and function of compulsive behaviors--ritually repeated, severely limiting activities--in five extended case histories from his practice. He observes that compulsions "are always motivated by fear" and have a "special cover-up function" that deflects the compulsive's attention from "some horrifying idea." An individual's compulsions develop "in a process that is akin to dreams," he adds. In his examples, a young boarding school teacher who is compelled to start his day shooting basketballs learns to face his erotic feelings toward his students; a woman whose family disregarded the abuse she endured as a child understands that shoplifting was how she confirmed her belief in the world's indifference. Using a broad definition of compulsion that covers many repetitive, undesired behaviors, Weinberg offers concrete suggestions for determining the nature of the fear that gives rise to the unwanted activity and steps for loosening its grip on one. Neither reductive nor simplistic, his views offer encouragement and hope to similarly afflicted readers.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

More well-told, insightful narratives from the files of psychotherapist Weinberg (Nearer to the Heart's Desire, 1992, etc.). Weinberg's present subject is compulsions--habits whose special function, he says, is to keep some horrifying idea from becoming conscious. Here, he offers novella-like case histories in which patients come to him with deep-rooted problems that he carefully and skillfully probes, uncovering the repressed fears underlying them. For some sufferers, compulsion manifests in a single activity: Jonathan, a young, unathletic math teacher, feels powerfully driven to secretly make foul shots in his school's basketball gym; Timothy, an aging lawyer, risks everything to spy on his young mistress. For others, the compulsion becomes a way of life: Martin, a truly nasty man for whom money is a monomania, denies all others access to him; similarly, Marianne, the unhappy wife of a Freudian psychoanalyst, compulsively avoids intimacy. Sandwiched between each of these tales are essays on the nature of compulsion; the relation of obsessions to compulsions; the Freudian view of the psyche versus the Weinberg view; how compulsions differ from ordinary habits; and how to break compulsions. To accomplish the latter, Weinberg offers a program that involves identifying the compulsion; stopping it temporarily in order to decipher its function; asking and answering the right questions about one's fears; and, finally, stopping the now-understood compulsive behavior for good. According to the author, this procedure can be carried out alone, in therapy, or with a self-help group. Perhaps so, but the case histories Weinberg relates indicate that the active help of a skilled therapist is invaluable. Rich character studies, plus lucid explanations of psychological concepts. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Most of us know of people who are driven by some kind of compulsion (e.g., constant hand washing, smoking, gambling, talking fast, and controlling others). Weinberg, a psychotherapist and writer ( The Taboo Scarf , LJ 7/90), shows that compulsion comes linked with its own special memories and that what differentiates a compulsion from a simple habit is the dread from which the compulsion springs. While engaged in this symbolic solution to a problem, the compulsive person relives the instant the behavior was adopted. Every compulsive activity is progressive, Weinberg claims, and engaging in the behavior worsens the underlying problem and creates an even greater need to carry out the activity. The author offers five distinct steps for breaking a compulsion and includes four case studies that make for riveting reading. Highly recommended for all popular psychology collections.
- Carol Schrader, Carrollton P. L. , Tex.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.