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Vulnerable Moments: Deepening the Therapeutic Process
Author(s): Martin S. Livingston (Author)
- Publisher: Jason Aronson, Inc. (UK)
- Publication Date: 1 Jun. 2001
- Language: English
- Print length: 299 pages
- ISBN-10: 0765703106
- ISBN-13: 9780765703101
Book Description
The therapeutic process requires both the willingness to be vulnerable and the capacity to tolerate it despite the risks involved. Martin S. Livingston reminds us that it is not just the patient who needs to take these risks, but the therapist as well. Those clinicians who avoid vulnerability via the protective detachment of their professional role cannot engage in a fully responsive, emotionally present way to the fragile, often fleeting, moments when both anxiety and openness to change are greatest. LivingstonOs focus on narcissistic vulnerability and its power to transform in psychotherapy comes alive in the bookOs abundant and vivid clinical examples. Material from individual, group, and couples treatment demonstrates how attention to the vicissitudes of this important aspect of the therapeutic process can have a profound impact. This is a deeply felt and beautifully written tribute to the bravery of patients and therapists alike in their very human search for connection.
Editorial Reviews
Review
In this book Martin S. Livingston displays his skillful deployment of self-psychology in the clinical realms of individual, couple, and group psychotherapy. In the extensive, vivid case examples he sensitively shows how he combines theory and treatment. This is a book by a master of his craft from which I have gained a new perspective on my own work. Clearly written, this will be of value to all psychotherapists who want to grow in their knowledge of self-psychology.
Martin Livingston has drawn attention to the importance of experiencing and exploring vulnerable moments in treatment. In this clear, readable, and engaging book, he shows how working with vulnerable moments can be facilitated, thereby deepening the therapeutic process and enhancing the experience of intimacy. Through his extensive clinical examples, Livingston makes an important contribution by examining vulnerable moments in individual, couples, and group psychotherapy.
About the Author
Martin S. Livingston, Ph.D., is a training analyst, faculty member, and supervisor at several psychoanalytic institutes in New York City. He is also co-chair of the Association for Psychoanalytic Self Psychology.
