Customer Reviews

Theaters Of The Body: A Psychoanalytic Approach to Psychosomatic Illness

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I found McDougall's book challenging, enlightening and encouraging in developing a "joined-up" approach to the mind-body split. I particularly appreciated the case histories she described with such humanity and sympathy for the sufferer. As a primary care counsellor, I meet somapsychotic symptomotology on a daily basis.This book has given me courage to make imaginative leaps of interpretation rooted in the individuality of each person's unique self expression. In a recent case history discussion for a Master's programme, I found McDougall's concepts invaluable in helping to formulate and express the complexities this area of work presents.

Joyce McDougall's personal perspective on mind-body interrelatedness and psychoanalysis maker her one of the most prolific authors in the field. You can trace the deep influence of Winnicott's theories and various french authors (such as J.Laplanche, A.Green and J.Lacan) on her work, moving from clinical observations to metapsychological explorations. Her main proposal, desafection as an alternative mechanism to repression or forclusion in the patient's dinamics and psychosomatic economy, is a major (and quite controversial)contribution to previous approaches on somatization.

Her style is fluid (unlike "The Many Faces of Eros", which centers on technical issues), including plenty of clinical vignettes and personal experiences.

A "must have" for anyone interested in somatization and psychosomatic phenomenon, specially for those in therapeutic field.