Seeing Through Tears: Crying and Attachment [Paperback]

Judith Kay Nelson (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0415949688 | ISBN-13: 978-0415949682 | Publication Date: February 25, 2005

Seeing Through Tears is a groundbreaking examination of crying behavior and the meaning behind our tears. Drawing from attachment theory and her own original research, Judith Nelson presents an exciting new view of crying as a part of our inborn equipment for establishing and maintaining emotional connections. In a comprehensive look at crying through the life cycle, this insightful volume presents a novel theoretical framework before offering useful and practical advice for dealing with this most fundamental of human behaviors.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This extraodinary work of both remarkable scholarship and exquisite sensitivity will become a standard on the subject..
–-Allan N. Schore, Ph.D., University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine; author, Affect Dysregulation and Disorders of the Self

[This book] puts psychological, developmental, psysiological, and cultural influences on crying (and not crying) into a single framework, making sense of a deeply human experience that often seems beyond words..
–-Phillip R. Shaver, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Psychology, University of California at Davis; co-editor, Handbook of Attachment

...a major breakthrough and a rich source of inspirartion for crying researchers. Seeing Through Tears is a tasty blend of case studies, research, and theory which yields an impressive analysis of the many different reasons why we shed emotional tears..
–-Ad Vingerhoets, Ph.D., Professor of Clinical Health Psychology, Tilburg University, The Netherlands; editor, Adult Crying

This book advances our understanding of the function and meaning of tears in the therapeutic setting..
–-Pat Sable, Ph.D., Adjunct Professor, School of Social Work, University of Southern California; author, Attachment and Adult Psychotherapy

This book is unique inits aim to develop a theoryof crying throughout the human life-time, and in the therapeutic context. I particularly appreciated the conclusion that crying can be unpremeditated art - poetry streaming down our cheeks..
–-Jean Sanville, Ph.D., author, The Playground of Psychoanalytic Therapy

About the Author

Judith Kay Nelson Ph.D. is a psychotherapist, teacher and writer. She has written extensively about crying and attachment and has lectured on this topic to professional and general audiences in the United States and Europe. She teaches clinical theory at the California Institute for Clinical Social Work and maintains a private practice in Berkeley, California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Routledge (February 25, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415949688
• ISBN-13: 978-0415949682
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #386,064 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Beautifully Written Book, August 11, 2005

By 

Jean C. Ryan (Napa, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Seeing Through Tears: Crying and Attachment (Paperback)

SEEING THROUGH TEARS is a beautifully written book on a complex subject: the phenomenon of tears. What makes us cry? What purpose does crying serve?

Exploring various clinical theories and beliefs, Ms Nelson leads us to a new understanding of our most vulnerable moments and illustrates her own conclusions with striking excerpts and evocative literary passages.

"In the act of crying," Ms Nelson writes, "we have love and loss, life and death. Crying holds the opposites: hopelessness and hope, pain and comfort, loneliness and connection. Crying is a transformative agent, a bridge
between mother and child, lover and beloved, stranger and Good Samaritan, body and soul, secular and sacred."

I thought of these words in relation to my own tears about a month ago when I drove by a dead rabbit on my otherwise beautiful commute through the wine country. After reading Ms Nelson's book, I understand that I was not only comforting myself, I was entering the sacred, coming out of my routine thoughts and linking up with the infinite. In that realm beyond words I was honoring that animal and life itself.

I highly recommend this book to anyone seeking to learn more about the secrets behind our tears.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent information for the layman, and the clinician, August 11, 2005

By 

Robert P. Paulson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Seeing Through Tears: Crying and Attachment (Paperback)

This book was purchased to assist a professional in the diagnosis and evaluation of an abused child, and the information therein is excellent. As a former CASA, I found the book to be an important resource to enhance my understanding of the attachment process.