Enchantments of the Clinic (eBook)

Power, Eroticism, and Illusion in the Clinical Relationship

Carl P. Ellerman (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2010
356 Seiten
Jason Aronson, Inc. (Verlag)
978-0-7657-0780-2 (ISBN)

Infos

A pragmatic existential therapist exposes a suggestive underworld of clinical experience, not only disclosing direct experience of the erotization of the clinic, the erotization of the clinician, and the erotization of clinical confession, but also showing by example that these enchantments facilitate psychological healing if managed well. Addressing clinical and cultural concerns, the philosophically-minded dialogical therapist also offers a vigorous critique of the clinical nihilism that defines psychotherapeutic practice in the postmodern clinic.

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Reflecting on his experience in the clinical trenches, a pragmatic existential therapist offers a provocative study of power, erotic influence, and illusion in the clinical relationship. Written in a conversational style that makes a challenging subject accessible to specialists in the clinical professions, teachers and students of the psychological disciplines, and scholars in the humanities and social sciences, Enchantments of the Clinic introduces readers to interesting ways in which language, ideas, and speech as well as illusions of the clinical station enable therapists to cast an unintentional spell that captivates and charms unsuspecting patients. Exposing this suggestive underworld of clinical experience, where the high-stakes game of persuasive dialogical therapy is often won or lost, critical attention is focused on the erotization of the clinic, the erotization of the clinician, and the erotization of clinical confession. Using dramatic examples from clinical practice, Carl P. Ellerman challenges prevailing dogmas of the therapeutic to demonstrate his thesis that enchantments of the clinic facilitate psychological healing if managed well, but if mismanaged, these volatile erotic enchantments may undermine the struggle against emotional illness in the clinical trenches. This ambitious study of the clinical relationship also addresses the disturbing fact that we are dwelling in a postmodern era in which clinical nihilism is flourishing. Ellerman conceives the dialogical therapist as a potentially dangerous, ethically vulnerable therapeutic artiste, whose strategic encounters in the postmodern clinic may be likened to aesthetic experiences in which an education to reality and a love of truth are obsolete or irrelevant, notwithstanding a clinical masquerade that reinforces in spellbound patients a blind trust in the phantastic therapist's honesty, truthfulness, and intellectual integrity. Embracing the Socratic mystique, Ellerman offers a vigorous philosophic critique of clinical nihilism while warning readers of the communal risks involved in surrendering the perennial quest for truth.

Autor

Carl P. Ellerman, PhD, is a psychotherapist in private practice. He publishes in psychotherapy and philosophy and has revised the theory and practice of existential psychology in professional literature.

Inhalt

Chapter 1 Introduction: The Clinical TrenchesPart 2 Part I: ThemesChapter 3 Chapter 1: The Erotization of the ClinicChapter 4 Chapter 2: The Erotization of the ClinicianChapter 5 Chapter 3: The Erotization of ConfessionPart 6 Part II: VariationsChapter 7 Chapter 4: The Therapy of ConfessionChapter 8 Chapter 5: The Edge of TherapyChapter 9 Chapter 6: Trail of the Human SerpentChapter 10 Chapter 7: The Hysterization of IncestPart 11 Part III: AberrationsChapter 12 Chapter 8: Anarchism and EthicsChapter 13 Chapter 9: Therapeutic SensibilityChapter 14 Chapter 10: Clinical NihilismChapter 15 Chapter 11: The Therapeutic ArtisteChapter 16 Chapter 12: Normality in the Light of MadnessChapter 17 Conclusion: After the FallChapter 18 Appendix: Freud's GhostChapter 19 Bibliography

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 2.6.2010
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Freizeit / Hobby ► Sammeln / Sammlerkataloge
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie ► Klinische Psychologie
• Themenwelt: Medizin / Pharmazie ► Gesundheitsfachberufe
• Themenwelt: Medizin / Pharmazie ► Medizinische Fachgebiete ► Psychiatrie / Psychotherapie
• ISBN-10: 0-7657-0780-2 / 0765707802
• ISBN-13: 978-0-7657-0780-2 / 9780765707802