![Advice Not Given: A Guide to Getting Over Yourself by [Epstein, Mark]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41zzmjYNe%2BL._SY346_.jpg)
I would give this negative stars if I could. As a female psychologist who relies heavily on psychodynamic/Freudian theories and models and who is at the gateway of exploring buddhism, i looked forward to this. it also had caught the attention of my previous supervisor (whom i respect), my therapist, and my best friend so it had convergent data so to speak. one chapter in, i was bored. three chapters in, annoyed. at chapter five i was livid.
here is a person who is a psychiatrist and buddhist (both of which aim to be helpful growth processes) who has managed to write a book steeped in latent sexism, misogyny, and male white privilege. the first example of someone "getting over themselves" is a female patient "treated" by a well-known psychotherapist by being asked to lie naked on a table, told that her problem is she "doesn't know how to flirt" and then given the prescription to flirt with the psychotherapist. in today's world (the example is decades old), that is illegal, unethical, and reprehensible use of power which unfortunately early psychotherapy (mostly practiced by white MDs) has a reputation for. In following examples (at least two, which was as far as I read) (chapters 4 or 5), after much name dropping, Epstein describes women with money and power who the he knows (it's called a dual relationship and is unethical in my field) and helped to "get over themselves." After three examples like this, I woke up to the fact that this book is an abuse of psychology and buddhism manipulated in a way that smacks of gas lighting.
another review called this "tepid buddhism" which i think was generous. it was hard to find much at all that was buddhist, even at a tepid level.
if you're into white male privilege, outdated freudian theory which relies on labeling women with "hysteria" and "neurosis", and misusing the tents of buddhism to be used to help women (who are currently in a THE MIDST OF A STRUGGLE FOR EQUALITY) to have their necks stepped on, this is the book for you. if you're into self growth, buddhism, and/or psychology, pass this piece of ego stroking trash over.
- File Size: 1079 KB
- Print Length: 213 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0399564349
- Publisher: Penguin Books (January 16, 2018)
- Publication Date: January 16, 2018
- Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
- Language: English
- ASIN: B073NPJBR1
- Text-to-Speech:
Enabled
- Word Wise: Enabled
- Lending: Not Enabled
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Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#35,005 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #16 in TA & NLP Psychotherapy
- #42 in Buddhism (Kindle Store)
- #84 in Medical Psychotherapy TA & NLP
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