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Tales from a Traveling Couch: Psychotherapist Revisits His Most Memorable Patients [Paperback]

Robert U. Akeret (Author)
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)

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Book Description

November 17, 1996

After thirty-five years in practice, prominent New York psychotherapist and author Robert Akeret found himself in the thrall of a single question: Did therapy make a real difference in his patients lives?

So, on a sunny morning in April, Dr. Akeret got in his van and set off to visit his most memorable former patients--a journey "in search of story endings." And what remarkable stories they are...

Naomi, an abused young Jewish girl from the Bronx who transforms herself into a Spanish flamenco dancer named Isabella--what is she like now, in her mid-fifties?

What about Charles, who fell madly in love with a circus polar bear? Had he been able to resist his fatal psychosexual attraction?

What of Sasha, the dashing, prize-winning French novelist with writers block and a penchant for exploiting women? In the end, did his art prevail or his life?

And what became of Mary--did she ever "murder" again?

Like a brilliant psychological detective novel, this book tells its stories in fascinating detail while raising fundamental questions about psychotherapy.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Uncertain whether psychotherapy brings fundamental, long-lasting change, New York City psychoanalyst Akeret recently tracked down five patients whom he had treated 20-35 years earlier. One of them, Naomi Goldberg, a self-hating Bronx college student abused and rejected by her parents in the late 1950s, had, during therapy, adopted the persona of a Spanish flamenco dancer, calling herself Isabella Cortez. Another patient, Seth Waterson, had been a newly married, impotent young filmmaker given to sadomasochistic fantasies, having been raised by a sexually abusive stepfather and a mother who strapped him in a constricting harness like a dog on a leash. We also meet nurse/midwife Mary McGinely, who believed she could murder people by wishing them dead; French novelist Sasha Alexandrovich, a narcissist with writer's block; and circus performer Charles Embree, who had a psychosexual obsession with a polar bear. Although none of these people had achieved a "perfect cure," three went on to lead productive, happy lives, whereas therapy had mixed results with the other two. Akeret's compulsively readable profiles are compelling existential dramas, and, with this deeply insightful book, he joins the front rank of psychotherapists who write about their practices.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

Akeret did something psychoanalysts aren't supposed to do?he went back years later to see whether therapy had made a difference in his patients' lives. Apparently, he had a few surprises.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 240 pages
  • Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (November 17, 1996)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0393314987
  • ISBN-13: 978-0393314984
  • Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #372,215 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

12 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.8 out of 5 stars (12 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A must-read for writers and patients., June 11, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Tales from a Traveling Couch: Psychotherapist Revisits His Most Memorable Patients (Paperback)
I didn't judge the level of writing, or the logic behind some of the author's judgements of causal relationships, to be first-rate, but the experiences of the author and his patients were very valuable and revealing.
I think that all artists, and all people who are connected to the mental health profession in any way (as doctors or patients) should make this book the next book they read--most especially for the perspective it lends, but also for the knowledge, entertainment, and hope.
People not fitting these categories will undoubtedly find the book very thought-provoking and entertaining as well, and I recommend it--though less insistently.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Life after therapy, February 18, 2007
By 
Deb (Palo Alto, CA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Tales from a Traveling Couch: Psychotherapist Revisits His Most Memorable Patients (Paperback)
Although this book reads like a novel, it contains the real-life stories of the journeys of five of Robert's most memorable patients. Starting with the work that began within the walls of the therapy room, each chapter takes a peek into how the lives of the individual patients have progressed in the space and time beyond the sessions. On so many levels, this book illustrates how the real effects of therapy transcend quantifiable in-session measures, and have an immeasurably profound influence on the rest of the patient's life. These stories speak for themselves and illustrate that the therapy is indeed healing when life after therapy can truly be a life.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Great fun, August 27, 2004
By 
lanoitan (United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tales from a Traveling Couch: Psychotherapist Revisits His Most Memorable Patients (Paperback)
I have done therapy myself for many years and I really enjoyed reading Akeret's book. Before I knew it, I had finished the book, wishing for more. When I first went into this line of work, my supervisor said to me that people are funnier than a barrel full of monkeys. People never cease to amaze me. Seeing the tremendous variation in personalities and getting a look at what made them the way they are leads to one becoming much more tolerant of others and also much more tolerant of one's own idiosyncracies. But first and foremost this book was very entertaining without being fantasy. (I'm the type who doesn't like fantasy because I just keep saying to myself "oh, c'mon!") A man falling in love with a polar bear? but he explained how it could happen. And people who think thoughts can kill - Mary in the book. Read the book. You'll be glad you did.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
MIDWAY THROUGH the Lincoln Tunnel I slipped Sketches of Spain into the tape deck and turned the volume way up. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Naomi Goldberg, Sasha Alexandrovich, Isabella Cortez, Beverly Griswold, Charles Embree, Jack Noto, Little Bear, Pyramid Club, San Francisco, Buenos Aires, Erich Fromm, New Jersey, Child Center, Clown College, Miles Davis, North County Parent, Wesley Galk
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