Wisdom from the Couch: Knowing and Growing Yourself from the Inside Out
Jennifer Kunst
Language: English
Pages: 151
ISBN: 1937612619
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
A useful guide to understanding the mysteries of the mind and how we can change for the better.
How can it be that perfectly intelligent people do such obviously counterproductive things so much of the time? Why do we do the things we know we shouldn't do, and why do we fail to do the things we know we should do? The simple answer to these questions is that the unconscious mind greatly influences all that we do, and this is the basis for the psychoanalytic idea that insight leads to change.
Written by an experienced clinical psychologist with a knack for describing complex ideas in a lively and easy to comprehend way, Wisdom from the Couch will change the way you think about your internal and external life.
Jennifer L. Kunst, PhD is a clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst in private practice in Pasadena, CA. She is a senior faculty member at the Psychoanalytic Center of California in Los Angeles, where she has served as chair of the Curriculum and Continuing Education Committees. She is also an adjunct associate professor at the Graduate School of Psychology at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. She writes a blog on psychologytoday.com, A Headshrinker's Guide to the Galaxy.
to a wide audience. Her chapter on ‘proper dependence,’ ‘ripening to obedience,’ and ‘inspired independence’ (Chapter Ten) alone is worth the price of this book. She has written a superb work, one that is as masterful as it is timely. She artfully presents a number of theoretical ideas, some complex and others simpler, all with such seamless clarity that the work speaks meaningfully to seasoned psychoanalysts, beginning mental health workers, high school and college students, parents, and
you will—carried forward into how they related after birth and as they grew into more developed children. Our basic personalities are set more than we would like to believe they are. If you had siblings or you have children, you know what I mean. Even if you look back at photos or videos of yourself as a young child, I’ll bet you can see traces of the adult you have become. While our early experiences shape us, they only shape us so much. For example, if we pay attention to the differences
are too hard. I don’t mean that what I am writing about is hard to understand, but the ideas are awfully hard to live. As I understand it, there is this fundamental truth about life: If you want to grow, you must take Robert Frost’s “road less traveled.” Or embrace the Buddha’s principle of nonattachment. Or discover Jesus’ narrow way. These wise ones all understood that a meaningful life is fundamentally about change. You’ve got to take up the cross and follow. I don’t mean that you have to walk
It is Jennifer Kunst’s experience as a young psychoanalyst that allows her to deepen her understanding of the human predicament. Not content with the isolation of the clinical situation, she applies the knowledge acquired there to the tasks of everyday life. In doing so, she allows readers to reflect on the psychoanalytic dynamics that might be at play in their own lives. This sensitive and passionate book will interest a wide range of readers, and particularly those who wish to look beneath the
and earned some interest. That’s just common sense.” The master went on, “What am I going to do with you? Give your talent to the one who has ten. You wasted yours and cannot be trusted with it. At least we know he’ll invest it properly. My lesson to you is this: Whoever has will be given more, and they will have more than they can imagine. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. As for you, I have no use for you. Get out of here. You’re fired!” This is the kind of