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Writing this book springs from a deep feeling for people and a
grave concern that without a proper understanding of the reasons
for their inhumanity in relation to one another and the development
of a compassionate world view, it is likely that human beings may
eventually destroy themselves and life on the planet. This work is
an attempt to explain the source of destructive behaviour and how
it manifests itself in personal relationships between men, women,
couples, and families, and in the social arena. The author presents
a position that offers a hope of altering the destiny of
humankind's unethical behavior through better psychological
understanding and education. Understanding the source of a person's
aggressiveness in defending the fantasy bond and learning to cope
with the voice process have strong implications for child-rearing
and better mental health practices.
Writing this book springs from a deep feeling for people and a
grave concern that without a proper understanding of the reasons
for their inhumanity in relation to one another and the development
of a compassionate world view, it is likely that human beings may
eventually destroy themselves and life on the planet. This work is
an attempt to explain the source of destructive behaviour and how
it manifests itself in personal relationships between men, women,
couples, and families, and in the social arena. The author presents
a position that offers a hope of altering the destiny of
humankind's unethical behavior through better psychological
understanding and education. Understanding the source of a person's
aggressiveness in defending the fantasy bond and learning to cope
with the voice process have strong implications for child-rearing
and better mental health practices.
Three psychologists provide readers with all the tools they need to
overcome the kinds of nagging, judgmental, or abusively
self-critical thinking that contribute to low self-esteem,
depression, anxiety, and substance abuse. The inner critic is the
voice in our heads that whispers, whines, and needles us into
place. It edits our thoughts, controls our behaviour, and inhibits
our actions. It thinks it is protecting us from being hurt or
abandoned - but all it really does is reinforce feelings of shame
and guilt, sabotage our intimate relationships, and contribute to
drug and alcohol abuse. Conquer Your Inner Critic presents a
revolutionary new strategy for dealing with the inner critic:
externalising it. This subtle yet powerful reframing technique
turns internal self-criticisms into "you" statements, that when
written or said aloud can finally be subjected to a reality-test
and seen to be the gross exaggerations, unfair comparisons, or
flat-out lies that they really are. Step-by-step, readers learn to
keep track of their negative thoughts, analyse their reality, and
recognize how negative thinking impacts their lives. They then
learn to use a variety of techniques to help them release the inner
critic's stranglehold on their lives and combat its subversive
effect on career achievement, intimate relationships, and
sexuality. A final chapter offers parents simple ways to help their
children avoid forming a tyrannical inner critic.
How much of our identity or 'self' is truly representative of our
own wants, needs, and goals in life and how much does it reflect
the desires and priorities of someone else? Are we following our
own destiny or are we unconsciously repeating the lives of our
parents, living according to their values, ideals, and beliefs? In
this thought-provoking book, noted clinical psychologist Robert
Firestone and his co-authors explore the struggle that all of us
face in striving to retain a sense of ourselves as unique
individuals. The self is under siege from several sources:
primarily pain and rejection in the developmental years, problems
in relationships, detrimental societal forces, and existential
realities that affect all people. Through numerous case studies and
personal stories from men and women who participated in a 35-year
observational study, the authors illustrate how voice therapy, a
cognitive/affective/behavioral methodology pioneered by Firestone,
is used to elicit, identify, and challenge the destructive inner
voice and to change aversive behaviors based on its prescriptions.
The theory they describe integrates the psychodynamic and
existential approaches underlying voice therapy and is enriched by
research findings in the neurosciences, attachment research, and
terror management theory (TMT). An important addition to the area
of personality development theory, The Self under Siege offers a
new perspective on differentiation and the battle to separate
ourselves from the chains of the past. It provides psychotherapists
and other mental health professionals with the tools needed to help
clients differentiate from the dysfunctional attitudes and toxic
personality traits of their parents, other family members, and
harmful societal influences that have unconsciously dominated their
lives. This book will have a special appeal to clients and, in
fact, to any person interested in his/her own personal development
What keeps people from living in ways that satisfy their individual needs and priorities? In this book, noted clinical psychologist Robert W. Firestone sets forth the theory--synthesizing psychodynamic and existential approaches to the psyche--underlying his voice therapy methodology. From childhood, Firestone maintains, humans are prevented from experiencing an individuated life by the pressures of society and destructive interactions within the family. The goal of voice therapy is to uncover the insidious forces--represented by internal messages, called voices--that limit humans. Firestone's technique, grounded in clinical research, helps the client to reveal these voices quickly, recognize their detrimental source, and begin the path to a meaningful life. In addition to laying theoretical foundations, this book emphasizes the use of voice therapy in direct practice with couples, parents, and individuals and expands these theories to consider existential and social concerns such as death anxiety and ethnic conflict. Therapists seeking to expand their techniques will find in this book a unique advancement on traditional psychodynamic models. Combating Destructive Thought Processes offers a methodology of interest to professionals in psychology, clinical psychology, counseling, social work, and developmental psychology.
Many people grapple with destructive thought processes or a
"critical inner voice" that directs their behavior and, to varying
degrees, limits their lives. Using deeply personal and very human
stories based on his own clinical practice, noted psychologist
Robert W. Firestone illustrates the struggles of his clients to
give words to this "enemy within," and in the process overcome its
damaging influence. These revealing and captivating stories offer
glimpses into the uniquely human relationship that develops in the
therapeutic encounter and demonstrate the powerful impact that the
experience has on both client and therapist. Dr. Firestone is the
originator of a therapeutic method called "Voice Therapy," by which
clients learn to identify the language of the defense system and
eventually separate their own point of view from its harmful
effects. Each story provides an intimate look into one person's
life, illuminates aspects of his or her "dark side," and highlights
an important insight into the therapeutic process. This sensitively
written book will evoke emotional responses in readers, and inspire
them to take action to challenge the dictates of their own inner
critic. Taken together, these stories underscore the distinctive
merits and continuing relevance of the therapeutic process,
especially in our distracted, technological world increasingly
detached from feeling.
When it comes to finding love, are you standing in your own way?
Daring to Love will help you identify the internal barriers that
cause you to sabotage your love life, open yourself up to
vulnerability, and build the intimate, lasting relationship you
truly desire. After a breakup, most of us spend a lot of time
thinking long and hard about what the other person did to cause it,
rather than reflecting on ourselves. It seems self-evident that we
want our romantic relationships to work, and that love and
long-term commitment are our ultimate goals. But what if our desire
for love is actually not as straightforward as our emotions make us
believe? What if, instead of pursuing love, we are unconsciously
pushing it away? In Daring to Love, Tamsen and Robert W. Firestone
offer techniques based in Robert Firestone's groundbreaking voice
therapy-the process of giving spoken word to unhealthy patterns-to
help you understand how you are getting in your own way on the
quest for true love. Love, the Firestones argue, makes us
vulnerable and triggers old defenses we formed in childhood,
causing us to sabotage our relationships in myriad subtle-and
not-so-subtle-ways. Using the voice therapy strategies in this
book, you will be able to identify your own defensive patterns and
uncover the destructive messages your critical inner voice is
telling you about yourself, your partners, and your relationships.
If you're struggling to cultivate lasting relationships, this book
can help you embark on your next romantic journey with more
openness and self-knowledge.
Why are many of us compelled to repeat the pain of our past, while
avoiding positive experiences that could enrich our lives? This
much-anticipated follow-up to the critically-acclaimed and
bestselling The Fantasy Bond tackles the complex question of why so
many of us are compelled to repeat the pain of our past while
avoiding positive experiences that could enrich our lives. In this
thought-provoking book, clinical psychologist and theorist Robert
Firestone explains how the fantasy bond, an illusion of connection,
develops early in childhood to cope with the pain and frustration
resulting from parental misattunement, neglect, or mistreatment. It
is manifested as a destructive internal thought process, the
critical inner voice. Later, the fantasy bond is extended to family
members, intimate partners, and social groups. In Challenging the
Fantasy Bond, Dr. Firestone presents his latest thoughts and
observations about the self-defeating aspects of this process and
places the original concepts in the broader context of his overall
theoretical approach, Separation Theory. Compelling case studies
illustrate how the critical inner voice causes considerable pain
and discomfort and interferes with intimacy. These case studies
demonstrate how Voice Therapy, a cognitive/affective/behavioral
methodology, can be used to counteract these destructive internal
messages and help individuals embrace the present, instead of
reliving the past. Challenging our illusions of a merged identity
and moving toward separation and individuation are essential if we
are to become fully autonomous human beings. This thorough update
of a classic work is particularly timely in its identification of
the existential fears that contribute to prejudice, political
divisiveness, and ethnic strife.
In this revolutionary work, Firestone develops the theory and
underlying dynamics involved in disturbed family relationships. He
describes a process through which parents can uncover and work
through ambivalent feelings toward their children, to gain a more
compassionate view of themselves and of their children. (Parenting)
This work provides clinicians with a detailed description of Voice
Therapy, a cognitive/affective/behavioral technique developed by
Dr. Firestone that can be used to elicit and bring to the
foreground negative thought patterns antithetical to the self and
cynical toward others.
Based on 28 years of research into the problem of resistance, this
book offers a consistently developed hypothesis centering around
the concept of the "Fantasy Bond, " an illusion of connection
originally formed with the mother and later with significant others
in the individual's environment.
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