Using Early Memories in Psychotherapy

Reviews / Votes

This concise yet clinically rich book is an insightful guide to the ever perplexing labyrinth of memory as it affects our emotional lives. Deftly, it interweaves early Freudian notions, views of Adler, Mayman, and Bruhn, and contemporary advances in the understanding of memory-related phenomena. The result is a striking elucidation of the multi-layered meaning and impact of early experience upon us. Side-by-side this theoretical intrigue exist superb technical innovations that enhance our capacity for understanding and enrich our skills as therapists! -- Salman Akhtar, MD, professor of psychiatry, Jefferson Medical College; training and supervising analyst, Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia Dr. Karson smoothly integrates psychoanalytic approaches with systems theory and behaviorism, creating a book that should be useful to anyone practicing psychotherapy. The overarching idea of basing treatment on the client's vocabulary and the client's narrative patterns is especially welcome at a time when many practitioners seek a magic bullet designed to work on everyone. Karson's sensitive handling of clinical material, presented on a realistically personal level, makes this a must-read. It is refreshing to see an approach to therapy at this moment in our professional history. -- Stephen Bloomfield, Ed.D.