Attacked by Poison Ivy: A Psychological Understanding [Paperback]

Ann Belford Ulanov (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2001 | Series: Jung on the Hudson Books

As a modern excursion into the territory handled by animistic cultures where priests make mandalas in the sand and ritual dancers dance away spirits of illness, Ann Ulanov examines her own illness in the light of modern psychology. Her personal point of view in applying the symbolism of Jung's archetypes to these attacks is refreshing in its individualization of the analysis and serves as an example of psychology in practice.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Nicolas Hays (November 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0892540583
• ISBN-13: 978-0892540587
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #973,157 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful and beautifully written, February 4, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Attacked by Poison Ivy: A Psychological Understanding (Paperback)

Jungian analyst Ann Ulanov's latest book springs from a question posed to her by an analysand curious about the author's repetitive bouts of poison ivy. "Himself an analyst," she writes, "he wondered if I had ever asked myself what my attacks of poison ivy meant. His question struck me like a wooden mallet on my forehead. I was stunned." Such disquietude at the question, "the startling realization that the question of the psychological and spiritual meaning of this annual physical suffering had never risen to consciousness," begins this insightful and beautifully written account of the author's decade-long journey to uncover the psychogenic origin of, and find meaning and healing from, fifty years of suffering from chronic poison ivy allergy.

By raising the possibility that poison ivy, a noisome contact allergy,can also be located within psychosomatic phenomena, the author's premis is straightforward: the psyche will often make use of the body in the form of such repetitive poison ivy outbreaks to communicate dissociated emotional experiences that transcend ego awareness. Dialoging with such luminaries as Winnicott, Bion, and Jung, and piecing together a poignant narrative of familial and personal neglect - coupled with growing awareness of her own kinship with the poison ivy plant itself, a plant that "blooms in neglect, that is never cared for except to exterminate it," - Ann Ulanov renders bare her own process of discovering and integrating the dissociated, "unmirrored" experiences of her life that had lived itself over and again through painful bodily paroxysms. This was a process, she explains,of rescuing into thought and feeling "what I did not know I had known,but what had known me." Simply put, "what was entombed in repetitive suffering becomes released into living, and the body is right in the center of it."

Those familiar with Ann Ulanov's other books will immediately recognize and appreciate her clarity and ease of expression, as well as her theological thoughtfulness. There is much to chew on here, especially that which concerns the nature of somatic consciousness and the psychological meaning of physical symptoms. Following her own example, Attacked By Poison Ivy is a call to enter into conversation with the deeper parts of ourselves, "the mute parts, the left-out parts," those parts which, like poison ivy, are often untended and rejected. This is work initiated by analysis, and continued through our own dialoging with dreams and imagination, in a way that is profoundly spiritual. We do this, the author writes, in order to build up a sturdiness to receive in ourselves what has been there from the beginning. This work, writes Ulanov, "lies in learning how to take what is offered, to receive what is given, to correspond with luminous grace."

Brian T. Peterson, New York City

52 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The importance of containment and witnessing, December 14, 2001

By 

LisaJoy Zillgitt (Christian Theological Seminary Indpls IN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Attacked by Poison Ivy: A Psychological Understanding (Paperback)

As one might suppose there is more meaning in the title of this book than meets the eye. However, the very real suffering caused by the ever changing ivy plant is not negated or over looked to merely make a psychological point. Ulanov gives careful attention to the physical reality of somatic illnesses while offering up the idea that perhaps it is possible to learn more about our selves and the Ultimate through such illnesses.
Ulanov begins her book by tying together two events in her life. The first is a serious attack of poison ivy at the age of 50. The second is the worst attack of poison ivy she has ever suffered in her life at the age of 10. Making a connection between these two points in time lays the foundation for the book. These two attacks are interwoven throughout the book as Ulanov reveals that both are signals from her body that something needs to be acknowledged and expressed which is being denied. For Ulanov this `unthinkable thought' (to quote both Ulanov and Bion) is the level of sadness, which permeated her family life as a child and the benign neglect that accompanied that sadness.
This book is not a book about blaming one's family of origin but rather one of hope in which Ulanov, at the inquiry of a client, brings into consciousness the body's ability to absorb content from our living environment and then manifest it in such a way that we can learn about ourselves and the Divine. Although Ulanov never clearly states this idea it becomes clear to the reader that the body, much like Kohut's image of the mother or therapist as mother, takes in that which is offered by the environment that the conscious mind is unable to manage, contains it, metabolizes it and offers it back to the conscious mind in another manner so that it can be tolerated and integrated into conscious knowing. This is the lesson of poison ivy.
Ulanov underscores out the importance of witnessing. She refers to, not only the witnessing done within the therapeutic relationship, but also, the witnessing we must each do for our selves. She makes the point that her late husband, Barry, brought a sense of `realness' to her suffering when her pain powerfully moved him. This witness to the condition of physical pain opened up the possibility for Ulanov to explore the emotional pain, which was being manifested in the hard but weeping skin created by poison ivy. Having become her own witness to her personal pain and her family's pain she then realizes that the Self, which mediates the Divine, is also witnessing her.
Ulanov candidly illustrates how a child can grow up and visit on itself the same benign neglect that it experiences as a child. She admits to the reader that she has not always taken the proper precautions when she is about to engage the poison ivy plant even though she is aware of its effects on her body. She argues eloquently that the skin represents the act of containment and protection. Thus, disorders of the skin can point to our feelings about our own ability to contain things or manifest our understanding of the holding/containment we have been offered in our lifetime. She argues that there is much that our bodies try to communicate to us and urges the reader to listen. It is in the listening, she proposes, and the acknowledging that we find liberation not only from the physical symptoms but also our emotional and spiritual wounds.
Ulanov draws heavily on the works of Jung and Bion for understanding of the body-mind connection. She easily integrates the Indian understandings of chakras with various ancient traditions about snakes and the meaning of the shedding of skin. She also weaves in an understanding of bathing as a ritual of purity and returning to the warm, bath-like fluid and containment of the mother's womb. Most importantly, Ulanov offers herself as an example of how healing can occur when that which is negated and denied is finally acknowledged, named, and integrated into our conscious history. Since she began this journey to greater self- knowledge at the age of 50 (she is now in her early 60's) she has had several minor attacks but only one major attack which came shortly after the death of her husband Barry. She attributes this attack to her grief over losing the containment and nurture, which their relationship provided. She claims that the truth of what she has said about her family's sadness and the power of denial was made evident as she was writing this book. She would suffer minor outbreaks of poison ivy as she wrestled with expressing the sadness of unmet dependency needs. She encourages the reader to make the journey personally while warning it will not be an easy one. The reward will be the ability to live life more fully.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars important book, August 1, 2009

By 

Faith Mason "psychotherapist" (Humboldt County, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Attacked by Poison Ivy: A Psychological Understanding (Paperback)

Attacked by Poison Ivy is the most important book I have read this year. Ulanov confirms the appropriateness of viewing body symptoms as messages from the unconscious. Her self-analysis of her affliction by poison ivy is a demonstration that analysis relieves suffering. I was especially interested in this book because of my dawning realization earlier this year that respiratory ailments, with fits of coughing, have brought the message that there is something stuck in my throat, metaphorically speaking, something that needs to be said but is unsayable. This book will surely speak to anyone who is learning to hear the messages of the unconscious that come through the body.