A series of fascinating stories about people in conflict with pain chronicles a wide range of patients as they struggle with panic attacks, psychosomatic illness, marital despair, and sexual recklessness, as well as other problems. 25,000 first printing.
A series of stories about people in conflict with pain chronicles a wide range of patients as they struggle with panic attacks, psychosomatic illness, marital despair, and sexual recklessness, as well as other problems.
Are human beings destined to find perfect complements in love or are we more like the fabled porcupines - forever jostling for a place between painful involvement and loveless isolation? That is the question at the heart of this stunning new book. "People seek therapy when things have gone terribly wrong in their lives," observes Deborah Anna Luepnitz, a gifted therapist and a writer of uncommon talent. "They arrive in the grip of a death wish or some unspeakable obsession, but what is at stake always turns out to be intimacy - the endless dilemmas of loyalty and desire."
Schopenhauer's Porcupines recounts five stories from Luepnitz's practice, with patients who range from the super-rich to the homeless - as they grapple with panic attacks, psychosomatic illness, marital despair and sexual recklessness. Intimate, original and triumphantly funny, Schopenhauer's Porcupines goes further than any other book in unveiling the secrets of "how talking helps."
Luepnitz (psychiatry, U. of Pennsylvania) tells stories from her own practice, using the image of porcupines alternately huddling for warmth and separating to keep from getting pricked. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Are human beings destined to find perfect complements in love, or are we more like the fabled porcupines-forever jostling for a place between painful entanglement and loveless isolation? This is the question at the heart of this stunning new book. "People seek therapy only when things have gone terribly wrong in their lives," observes Deborah Luepnitz, one of the field's most gifted psychotherapists and a writer of uncommon talent. "They arrive in the grip of a death wish or some unspeakable obsession, but what is at stake always turns out to be intimacy-the endless dilemmas of loyalty and desire." Schopenhauer's Porcupines recounts five stories from Luepnitz's practice, with patients who range from the super-rich to the homeless-as they grapple with panic attacks, psychosomatic illness, marital despair, and sexual recklessness. We watch their therapy unfold week-to-week, from the first phone call to the final sessions, as these men and women learn, in the words of one poet, "to make room in love for hate."Written with wry humor and deep compassion, Schopenhauer's Porcupines goes further than any other book in unveiling the secrets of "how talking helps." Its wisdom and intelligence will appeal to readers everywhere who are reaching for psychological renewal and want to go beyond "quick-fix" cures.
For readers of Irvin Yalom and Oliver Sacks, these spellbinding true stories of women and men struggling for relief from pain dramatically illuminate the transformative powers of psychotherapy
