Death in Life, Garwood

In this revised and updated second edition to the original published in 1985, M. Guy Thompson takes us inside his soul-searching seven-year apprenticeship with radical psychiatrist R. D. Laing and his cohorts as it unfolded in counterculture London of the 1970s. This rite de passage culminates with a four-year sojourn inside one of Laing's post-Kingsley Hall asylums, where Laing's unorthodox conception of treatment dispenses with conventional boundaries between "doctor" and "patient." In this unprecedented exploration, Thompson reveals the secret to Laing's astonishing alternative to the conventional psychiatric and psychoanalytic treatment schemes.

Movingly written and deeply personal, Thompson shows why the very concept of "mental illness" is a misnomer and why sanity and madness should be understood instead as inherently puzzling stratagems that we devise in order to protect ourselves from intolerable mental anguish. The Death of Desire offers a provocative and challenging reappraisal of depth psychotherapy from an existential perspective that will be of interest to psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, philosophers, social scientists, and students of the human condition.

Freud's central insights continue to guide the range of all talking therapies, but they do so somewhat in the manner of a smudged ancestral map. That blur, or degree of confusion, invites new ways of reading. Ellen Pinsky reexamines fundamental principles underlying by-now-dusty terms such as "neutrality," "abstinence," "working through," and the peculiar expression "termination." Pinsky reconsiders--in some measure, hopes to restore--the most essential, humane, and useful components of the original psychoanalytic perspective, guided by the most productive threads in the discipline's still-evolving theory. Freud's most important contribution was arguably to discover (or invent) the psychoanalytic situation itself. This book reflects on central questions pertaining to that extraordinary discovery: What is the psychoanalytic situation? How does it work (and fail to work)? Why does it work?　

This book aims to articulate what is fundamental and what we can't do without--the psychoanalytic essence--while neither idealizing Freud nor devaluing his achievement. Historically, Freud has been misread, distorted, maligned or, at times, even dismissed. Pinsky reappraises his significance with respect to psychoanalytic writers who have extended, and amended, his thinking. Of particular interest are those psychoanalytic thinkers who, like Freud, are not only original thinkers but also great writers--including D. W. Winnicott and Hans Loewald.　

Covering a broad range of psychoanalytic paradigms, Death and Fallibility in the Psychoanalytic Encounter will bring a fresh understanding of the nature, benefits and pitfalls of psychoanalysis. It will appeal to psychoanalysts and psychoanalytic psychotherapists and provide superb background and inspiration for anyone working across the entire range of talking therapies.

Originally published in 1991, Death and Desire presents in Lacanian terms a new integration of psychoanalytic theory in which the battery of key Freudian concepts - from the dynamics of the Oedipus complex to the topography of ego, id, and superego - are seen to intersect in Freud's most far-reaching and speculative formulation of a drive toward death. Boothby argues that Lacan repositioned the theme of death in psychoanalysis in relation to Freud's main concern - the nature and fate of desire. In doing so, Lacan rediscovered Freud's essential insights in a manner so nuanced and penetrating that prevailing assessments of the death instinct may well have to be re-examined.

Although the death instinct is usually regarded as the most obscure concept in Freud's metapsychology, and Lacan to be the most perplexing psychoanalytic theorist, Richard Boothby's straightforward style makes both accessible. He illustrates the coherence of Lacanian thought and shows how Lacan's work comprises a 'return to Freud' along new and different angles of approach. Written with an eye to the conceptual structure of psychoanalytic theory, Death and Desire will appeal to psychoanalysts and philosophers alike.

Goldberg, a Louisiana native and now a New York therapist, sees Diana's growth - from self-deprecating ingEnue, to royal mother, to powerful and independent woman - as an inevitable process in the Princess' climb toward self-actualization, one cut short by numerous tragic missteps. Seabrook, a religion and mythology scholar, seventh-generation Kentuckian, and a cousin of Diana, views her life and death as fated, made more understandable by comparing her with her ancient namesake, the Old European Moon-Goddess Diana, with whom the Princess of Wales shared many uncanny similarities.

Combining psychoanalytic and mythological perspectives, the authors weave an engaging interpretation of Lady Spencer's life, one that includes an examination of her marriage to Prince Charles, their breakup, her short bout with freedom, and her eerie death after a crash in a gloomy Parisian tunnel, synchronistically named -Bridge of the Moon-Goddess.-

All is cast in the light of ancient myths surrounding the Pagan lunar-deity Diana, known in ancient Greece as Artemis. As Princess Diana's psycho-mythic drama unfolds, we are treated to a veritable introduction to both depth psychology and comparative mythology, languages that Goldberg and Seabrook use to ably describe the shy aristocrat's rise to fame and fortune and her fall into tragedy and darkness.

The Foreword is by noted psychoanalyst Dr. Phyllis W. Meadow. A respectful book in the mold of the venerable Sigmund Freud and Robert Graves, it includes a comprehensive bibliography, detailed index, and numerous quotes by the universally admired -People's Princess.- With its fresh and provocative insights, Princess Diana, Modern Day Moon-Goddess is a must-read for anyone interested in Lady Di, psychology, or mythology.

Goldberg is a practicing psychoanalyst and recognized as a leading authority in the fields of psychological oncology and holistic health. She is the author of eight books, including the acclaimed The Dark Side of Love: The Positive Role of Negative Feelings.

Seabrook, a descendant of the Spencers, is the recipient of the prestigious Jefferson Davis Historical Gold Medal and the author of over 50 popular books that have introduced hundreds of thousands to the hidden truths about Jesus, Christianity, and the Bible. His works include the international blockbuster, Jesus and the Law of Attraction: The Bible-Based Guide to Creating Perfect Health, Wealth, and Happiness Following Christ's Simple Formula; as well as Seabrook's Bible Dictionary of Traditional and Mystical Christian Doctrines; Jesus and the Gospel of Q; Christmas Before Christianity; Christ is All and in All; The Goddess Dictionary of Words and Phrases; The Book of Kelle: An Introduction to Goddess-Worship; The Bible and the Law of Attraction; and Britannia Rules: Goddess-Worship in Ancient Anglo-Celtic Society.