1st Edition
A Psychoanalytic Study of the Wounded Healer Life Stories, Myth and Reality
A Psychoanalytic Study of the Wounded Healer uses qualitative research to examine the popular myth that therapists are ‘wounded healers’.
Rhona M. Fear presents the life stories of seven well-known psychoanalysts and psychotherapists, including Sigmund Freud, John Bowlby and Patrick Casement. Fear uses grounded theory to analyse her research and categorise her results, focusing closely on experiences including trauma in early life, attachment problems, mental disturbance and resistance to authority figures. The book identifies patterns and common themes in the life stories of these leading figures and explains what this research can tell us about the enduring myth of the wounded healer.
Accessibly written, A Psychoanalytic Study of the Wounded Healer will be of great interest to psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, counsellors, and others in the helping professions.
Introduction
1: The Myth of the Wounded Healer
2: The Research Methodology
3: The Narrative Tone of Stories: Attachment Schemas and World View
4: The Life of Patrick Casement
5: The Life of Neville Symington
6: The Life of Nina Coltart
7: The Life of Sigmund Freud
8: The Life of Viktor Frankl
9: The Life of Carl Jung
10: The Life of John Bowlby
11: Analysis of Themes in the Research
12: Reflexivity
13: Discussion
References
Biography
Rhona M. Fear is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist who has spent more than thirty years in private practice in Worcestershire, UK. Following her attainment of a master’s degree in counselling and psychotherapy, she proceeded to train in contemporary psychoanalytic theory with the West Midlands Institute of Psychotherapy. She is the author of several books, including Attachment Theory: Working Towards Learned Security (Routledge).
