A volume in the Psychoanalytic Ideas Series, published for the Institute of Psychoanalysis by Karnac. Here, shame and jealousy are examined as hidden turmoils; as basic human feelings found in everyone but often suppressed and neglected. An unfulfilled need, unanswered plea for help, and failure to connect with and understand other people are all underlying causes for shame and feeling inadequate. The author argues that feelings of shame form an intrinsic part of the analytic encounter but 'astonishingly, this shame-laden quality of the psychoanalytic and psychotherapeutic setting is rarely addressed. This lucidly written and much-needed volume explores the profound effects shame and jealousy can have on self-esteem and how this can eventually lead to a chronic condition.

Psychoanalytic Energy Psychotherapy is the outcome of one psychoanalyst's encounter with the field known generically as energy psychology, which reveals how the conflicts and traumas active within the psyche are encoded as information within the body's energy system. It is inspired primarily by the remarkable and far-reaching work of Dr. Roger Callahan in his development of Thought Field Therapy. There were important figures before Dr. Callahan in the lineage-notably George Goodheart, the founder of Applied Kinesiology, who first explored muscle testing as a source of information about the body's organs and functions, and psychiatrist Dr. John Diamond, who extended this enquiry into the emotional and psychological domains-and many have built substantially on his work since.The author is compelled to the conclusion that purely talk-based forms of psychotherapy-although not without value-are simply not able to engage effectively with the realm in which the patterns of emotional distress are encoded: the area at the interface of the psyche and the soma, the body's energy field. For this reason, he encourages psychotherapists to consider the implications of TFT and the wider domain of energy psychology. He is convinced that this realm of the body and its energy is entirely congruent with-and indeed an extension of-the psychoanalysis originally developed by Freud.

This book argues mainly that attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and related autistic spectrum conditions reflect states of impaired self-regulation and of enhanced need for regulatory assistance from other people. It is useful and helpful for those who personally struggle with ADHD.

A volume in the Psychoanalytic Ideas Series, published for the Institute of Psychoanalysis by Karnac. Here, shame and jealousy are examined as hidden turmoils; as basic human feelings found in everyone but often suppressed and neglected. An unfulfilled need, unanswered plea for help, and failure to connect with and understand other people are al

This book argues mainly that attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and related autistic spectrum conditions reflect states of impaired self-regulation and of enhanced need for regulatory assistance from other people. It is useful and helpful for those who personally struggle with ADHD.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), along with methods from the new field of energy psychology, such as the Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), enable the rapid processing and release of traumatic memories and painful emotion. In this innovative work, Phil Mollon demonstrates how the perspectives of EMDR, energy psychology, and psychoanalysis can inform and enrich each other. By summarising relevant research and providing many clinical examples, Mollon has produced a challenging and invigorating scrutiny of psychoanalysis and an expanded vision of the potential for psychosomatic healing.

People like to talk. We know that talking to an attentive and thoughtful listener can be helpful in clarifying conscious and unconscious feelings, thoughts, and motivations. But is talk enough? The complex physiology of anxiety and traumatic stress reactions is often stubbornly persistent, despite therapeutic exploration in both conscious and unconscious areas of the mind. In the case of severe trauma, talking can stir up the emotions and associated bodily disturbance without providing any resolution - sometimes leaving clients feeling worse. The developing field of energy psychology offers an entirely new perspective and gamut of techniques for locating where these traumatic patterns are encoded. They are not in the mind - but in the energy system at the interface of psyche and soma. By addressing these realms concurrently, a powerful therapeutic synergy emerges that allows rapid and deep shifts in the patterns of distress that drive the psychosomatic system.

In this pioneering work, Phil Mollon explores how the insights of EMDR, energy psychology and psychoanalysis can be combined to inform and enrich one another and enable healing at a much deeper level. Drawing out how Freud's psychoanalysis was originally an energy psychology, Mollon points to ways in which some forms of contemporary psychoanalysis may be hampered by a current fashion for an excessive focus on transference rather than upon intrapsychic processing of emotional information.Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), along with methods from the new field of energy psychology, enable the rapid processing and release of traumatic memories and painful emotion. Whilst both psychoanalytic and cognitive therapies are able to elicit the structures of thought and feeling that trap the individual in repetitive maladaptive behaviours, neither are very good at actually processing and transforming the troubling emotions and mental pain. Thus, traditional talking therapies may provide some insight or constructive ways of thinking, but do not alter the core patterns of dysfunctional emotional information.Mollon outlines a bedrock resistance to psychic change - disintegration anxiety - explaining how this deepest of all terrors may be addressed in therapy. An overall model of the psychosomatic system is presented, detailing the interaction and layering between the energy system, conscious and unconscious cognition and emotion, neurobiology, and physiology. Relevant research is summarized and many clinical examples are provided in the book.

"This diminutive book packs a powerful punch ... Mollon skilfully manages to bring together the many facets of this subject in a succinct, engaging way... a complex subject, artfully curated and expressed." -- Sussex Counselling and Psychotherapy News, Spring 2021 Pathologies of the Self draws on almost 45 years of clinical practice to explore the nature and structure of human identity. Collectively, we are trapped in images of self, whether constructed by us, or imposed by others. These illusions are inextricably bound to our sense of who we are, and sometimes defended so fiercely that it leads to narcissistic disturbances and borderline states of mind. In this fascinating book Phil Mollon explores narcissistic phenomena in both the clinic and everyday life, demonstrating the illusory nature of the self, and showing how, beneath our defences, we are all 'borderline'.

In the ten years before his death in 1982, the American psychoanalyst Heinz Kohut presented a body of highly original clinical observations and theorising, creating a new conceptual lens - 'self-psychology' - revealing aspects of mental life that had hitherto remained largely obscure. These remarkable insights have made possible psychoanalytic understanding and treatment of those whose sense of self and psychic equilibrium might otherwise have proved too fragile. However, Phil Mollon argues that Kohut's views have been widely - almost scandalously - misunderstood. For example, Kohut has been misperceived as advocating gratifactory mirroring of the patient rather than analytic understanding. In fact, Kohut remained essentially loyal to the deep roots of Freudian psychoanalysis and its technical reliance on interpretation. His innovations lay in the content of psychoanalytic interpretation. With the aim of drawing out the true meanings and implications of self-psychology, Mollon examines in detail Kohut's own clinical illustrations. In addition, he explores the interaction between Kohut's work and other contemporary psychoanalytic points of view, as well as making links with emerging perspectives in developmental psychology and neurobiology. He shows that Kohut implicitly formulates a psychoanalytic process in which the limits of understanding are acknowledged and seen as crucial in allowing the continuously evolving unknown self to be released.