A new approach to women & therapy [Hardcover]

Miriam Greenspan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1983

Writing for a broad range of readers interested in psychotherapy and women's issues, Greenspan tells of her own experiences in therapy and those of many of her patients. These stories clearly illustrate how treatment approaches based on traditional male attitudes pathologize and devalue women. This highly readable, detailed, and critical study does more than expose the failures of male-biased psychotherapy-it offers a positive alternative treatment model which recognizes women's emotional pain and is based on an empowering therapeutic relationship. Greenspan gives several case examples of feminist treatment techniques, explaining the rationale behind each and assisting readers in the search for a therapist who subscribes to them. In her exciting new introduction, and dangers of the codependency recovery movement for women's psychological healing, and a new vision of feminist therapy as a means of bringing about planetary healing.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 355 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; First edition (1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0070243492
• ISBN-13: 978-0070243491
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,422,170 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not so "new", but enough remains current, October 25, 2010

By 

Page Scott (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A New Approach to Women & Therapy (Paperback)

Second person on Amazon to review this book? That's surprising--I thought it was a classic in the field. The book was written in 1983, so it's not exactly a "new approach" anymore. Greenspan makes some pretty damning indictments of psychology at the time, and it seems that a lot has changed since the 80's. (For example, I believe the Freudian therapies she describes have largely fallen out of vogue.) But I think that Greenspan's basic premise is very current, and deserves to be read: That mental issues can't be entirely divorced from social, political, and economic realities. "Oppression is depressing", she says, and I agree.

However, I think Greenspan tends to make too large a leap, from "It's all in your head" to "None of it's in your head". Greenspan doesn't acknowledge the possibility that a mental illness could stem from a combination of causes, for instance. And she doesn't mention any instances in which her form of therapy was unsuccessful. Although her feminist therapy seems like an improvement on the previous therapies that she described, it seemed a little disingenuous to make no critique whatsoever of her methods. Looking at 1983, I can understand why Greenspan really needed to do a hard sell of her method. But in 2010, it seems overkill.

I'm waffling between 3 and 4 stars for this book. I'll round up, though, because I think Greenspan remains an important voice in an age when every human problem is medicalized.

0 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Too Political and Full of Generalizations, July 15, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: A New Approach to Women & Therapy (Paperback)

Contrary to the author's beliefs, not all women are scarred by sexism, and not all therapy has to be different for people of different genders. The books relies on political assumptions about the way the world works that many of us may disagree with, and makes generalizations about our experiences that are often innaccurate. I recommend that you read something where the author is not so clearly pushing her political agenda if you really want to be helped.