by Wayne A. Myers ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 1992
Don't be put off by the lurid title, the occasionally sensationalistic material, or Myers's clunky prose. Behind them is an often fascinating group of firsthand case studies of ``countertransference''—the problems that develop when a therapist allows his or her own hang-ups (and unconscious agendas) to interfere with a patient's treatment. Myers, who supervises psychiatrists and other therapists at leading New York hospitals, offers nine accounts of misguided shrinks whom he counseled—plus an affecting story of his own personal triumph over countertransference. Two of the cases are too melodramatic to yield serious insight: the young psychiatrist, himself sexually confused, who encouraged a male patient to have a sex-change operation, then moved in with him/her; a middle-aged female doctor who treated a young woman without revealing her own long-ago affair with the patient's father. But the others are convincingly detailed and clearly told: Gabriel, whose unconscious fantasy of rescuing his mother (a concentration-camp survivor) was projected onto a female patient. Stan, whose own sexual inhibitions prevented him from responding appropriately to a patient's promiscuity. Black therapist Joyce, whose feelings about white families (and her own past) interfered with her treatment of a young white woman trying to become independent of a coddling family. (Myers has made interracial therapy something of a specialty.) Plus: sadistic Edie, trouble-maker Henry, greedy and corrupt Leonard, vengeful Alicia—and Myers himself, who succeeded in treating an older man's impotence only after realizing that he was unconsciously using the patient as a father-substitute. Uneven, then, but generally solid, shrewd, short on jargon, and long on common sense—with a powerful message: all therapists, even drug-dispensing psychiatrists, need to have as much therapy as possible before practicing on the rest of us.
Pub Date: June 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-671-73898-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1992
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by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
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by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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