Work and the Evolving Self

Reviews / Votes

"Long preoccupied with the vicissitudes of love, psychoanalysts concomitantly ignored the vicissitudes of work, perhaps because most work, routine and controlled in nature, allowed little freedom for emotional expression. With the ongoing transformation of the workplace, including the increasingly flexible situation of knowledge" workers, new vistas of clinical intervention have opened up. Steven Axelrod's ground-breaking book shows psychoanalytically oriented therapists how, by expanding their therapeutic purview to issues of work and working, they can deepen their insights and increase their effectiveness."

- Harry Levinson, Ph.D., Chairman, The Levinson, Institute

"Dr. Axelrod has made a superb contribution to a seriously neglected area of psychoanalytic inquiry. The mixture of theory and clinical examples and the focus on work in the treatment process make this an outstanding and highly practical book that should be in the library of every mental health professional."

- Calvin A. Colarusso, M.D., Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, UC San Diego

"Dr. Axelrod has chosen to focus on one of the two areas of functioning Freud considered the criteria of mental health: love and work. While many writers have considered the first and written extensively on the ways in which it is problematic, very few have considered the second. Work inhibition and the opportunities for sublimation, social connection and object finding offered by the workplace have now been given their due. This book could open up a whole new way of thinking about psychotherapeutic goals, ideals and strategies. I highly recommend it."

- Arlene Kramer Richards, Ed.D., Training and Supervising Analyst, New York Freudian Society