Searching for the Perfect Woman : The Story of a Complete Psychoanalysis

Volkan, Vamik D.; Fowler, J. Christopher

ISBN 10: 0765706164 / ISBN 13: 9780765706164

Published by Jason Aronson, Inc., 2009

About this Item

Seller Inventory # 6364775-n

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Searching for the Perfect Woman : The Story of a Complete Psychoanalysis
• Publisher: Jason Aronson, Inc.
• Publication Date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0765706164
• ISBN 13: 9780765706164
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

This is not your typical psychotherapy case; it is the story of one man's inner struggle to find peace and happiness in an internal world filled with dangerous father figures and tempting but rejecting femme fatales. Training analyst, author, and four-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee Vamik Volkan weaves a compelling story of Hamilton's complete psychoanalysis. From one angle, it is an evocative, accessible page-turner, drawing readers from the professional world and the lay public into the inner life of a compulsive womanizer, and the psychoanalytic treatment that brought about massive change in his inner life and personal relationships. From another angle, it is about the profound influence of historical traumas transmitted across generations and how not only an individual's parents' personal trauma, but also ancestors' historical traumas, reverberate in the current generation. Our ancestors' suffering during wars, for example, does not disappear when our ancestors die or when wars end, but continues to influence their offspring. For the deeply inquisitive person and serious students of psychoanalysis, this is an opportunity to learn about psychoanalytic theory and technique applied to a single case.

The book confronts the question "Does psychoanalysis help?" Through this detailed account of the psychoanalytic treatment processes, the reader witnesses the slow but compelling changes in Hamilton's internal world. Interspersed throughout the manuscript, J. Christopher Fowler, an experienced therapist, clinical researcher, and educator, challenges Volkan to explain how his psychoanalytic techniques affect changes in Hamilton's mind.

About the Author

Vamik D. Volkan, M.D. is the Senior Erik Erikson Scholar at the Erikson Institute of Education and Research of the Austen Riggs Center, an emeritus professor of psychiatry at the University of Virginia, an emeritus training and supervising analyst at the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute, and a guest lecturer at the Berkshire Psychoanalytic Institute.J. Christopher Fowler, Ph.D. is director of research at the Erik H. Erikson Institute, Austen Riggs Center. He is a fellow of the Society for Personality Assessment, consulting editor for the Journal of Personality Assessment, and a member of the Society for Psychotherapy Research.