Inside Out and Outside in: Psychodynamic Clinical Theory and Practice in Contemporary Multicultural Contexts

This book updates psychodynamic approaches by adding the essential biological and social perspectives that they often lack. We know that everyone is born with innate, highly individual inner characteristics, some of which are biologically based. These traits-a quickness to anger, an easy smile, a way of being calm or fidgety, a lively curiosity, a tendency to melancholy-are not easily visible, yet they play a crucial role in shaping the course of a person's life. We also know that each of us is born into an outer world with great specifications of its own: time, place, class, race, family, community, country, ethnic group, religion, political-economic climate. An African-American baby, a Korean-American baby, and a Swedish-American baby born on the same day in the same hospital will each be strengthened or assaulted by very different outside forces The authors of this book show how to find value in understanding people's pain and resilience in the context of their internal dynamic struggles, biological make-up, and social realities. They demonstrate how to use this knowledge to create a language of meaning for people's difficulties, and most important, a road to their healing. Inside Out and Outside In provides a guide for understanding and working with the complex inner and outer forces that make up people's lives. A Jason Aronson Book

Joan Berzoff, Ed.D., is Co-Director of the Doctoral Program at the Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, Massachusetts. Laura Melano Flanagan, M.S.W., maintains a private psychotherapy practice in New York City. Patricia Hertz, M.S.W., is Director of Training and Senior Supervisor of the Social Work Department at Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Simmons College School of Social Work, Boston, and Part-Time Faculty, Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, Massachusetts.