The Experience of Emptiness [Paperback]

Clive Hazell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 22, 2003

Very few books explicitly examine the experience of emptiness, and while several authors have examined the related phenomenon of meaninglessness, it has, for the most part, been regarded as a pathological sign. This book reviews the work of many authors who have tackled this topic and provides an integrated explanation for the experience of emptiness, showing that it is correlated with emotional growth and is thus a sign of an opportunity for personal development, even though not always an expected or welcome one. By providing explanations for this experience, numerous case examples spanning a variety of situations and descriptions of different manifestations of and reactions to emptiness, readers should be helped in understanding themselves and others. This book should be of interest toclinicians, students of psychology and culture and anyone interested in human growth and development.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Clive Hazell has a private practice in counseling and consulting in Chicago, Illinois, where he has lived for over thirty years. He received a PhD from Northwestern University, where he won the Phi Delta Kappa Research Award, and teaches at The Illinois School of Professional Psychology, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and DeVry University. Nominated in "Who's Who Among America's Teachers" and recipient of several "Outstanding Teacher of the Year" awards, he has published several articles on the topic of emptiness and developed a clinically reliable measure of emptiness and existential concern. His long-standing interest in emptiness was stimulated by encounters with Zen while studying undergraduate geography at Reading University, England. Other interests include guitar, songwriting, long distance running, bird watching and rugby.

Product Details

• Paperback: 276 pages
• Publisher: AuthorHouse (October 22, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1410797694
• ISBN-13: 978-1410797698
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,565,052 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant framework for understanding human emptiness and ontological shifts, June 15, 2010

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Paul Smith "Vendange, vraiment" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Experience of Emptiness (Paperback)

This is a brilliant text, by a gifted psychologist. In the work, Dr. Hazell draws from and improves upon a variety of theoretical bases (and his own considerable clinic experience) to form a cogent argument: namely, the human tendency to periods of "emptiness" (which he ably distinguishes from mere depression, and other feelings of alienation and despair), though they can be frightening, even terrifying, can be re-framed as periods of developmental shifts, a process of creative destruction and re-integration happening on a profound level.

Enlarging upon Dabrowski's Theory of Positive Disintegration, Hazell argues that the experience of emptiness, though painful, rather than a sign of pathology, is a normal and potentially deeply positive human experience, an opportunity for a manifest crystallization of the feeling of emptiness, and for creative disintegration and re-integration to form an emotionally more complete individual:

"...this research tends to support the notion that emptiness revealed is perhaps cause for celebration, albeit a bittersweet one, for it seems to betoken an internal shift in the self-awareness of the individual."

The book begins with a review of the literature and theoretical underpinnings surrounding the issue of emptiness. It then moves to potential clinical ramifications of the paradigm, for individual and group therapeutic settings. It concludes with clinical case examples, drawn from Dr. Hazell's experience in counseling gifted clients.

The chapters are:

1. The Experience of Emptiness
2. Emptiness and Resistance
3. Remorse and Resistance
4. Resistance to Working in the Here and Now
5. Emptiness and the Group
6. Clinical Applications of the Theory of Positive Disintegration
7. The Experience of Emptiness and the Use of Dabrowski's Theory in Counseling Gifted Clients: Clinical Case Examples

If the book's theoretical foundation is rigorous, it is written masterfully, a pleasure to read. An added benefit is the extensive reference and bibliography section, for further reading. As a layperson, I would think this is an eminently worthy contribution to the field. More broadly, as an ontological inquiry, a work spanning psychology, philosophy, art and culture, this book is a brilliant gem.