1st Edition
Exploring the Work of Michael Eigen (2 Volume Set) Primary Process Impacts, Dreaming the Undreamable Object, Toxic Nourishment and Damaged Bonds
These books explore key aspects and themes present in the work of Michael Eigen.
Primary Process Impacts and Dreaming the Undreamable Object in the Work of Michael Eigen examines Eigen’s rich phenomenological work on becoming a welcoming object. As primary process psychoanalyst, Eigen’s writing reflects a unique rhythm of faith able to 'revivify' union-distinction body-affect-thinking potentialities within a creative psychoanalytic dyad. In this book contemporary Eigen readers and writers articulate the various welcoming processes and attitudes needed to cultivate a ‘Hearing Heart,’ a central ingredient in reaching and touching those parts of self-deemed unwanted, unwelcomed, and even traumatized.
Toxic Nourishment and Damaged Bonds in the Work of Michael Eigen examines Eigen’s rich phenomenological work on the Obstructive Object. This volume elaborates on the Obstructive Object through essays and poems that include poignant clinical examples, the impact of exceptionally traumatized patients on their analysts, literature comparisons, and the more ‘mystical aspect’ of Eigen’s influence on working with the obstructive object. Essays draw from Virginia Woolf, Elena Ferrante, Wilfred Bion, D.W. Winnicott, Andrè Greene, Christopher Bollas, and Adam Phillips, among many others, in exploring injury-rage, unwanted patients, psychoanalytic faith, toxic nourishment, and damaged bonds.
These books will be of great interest to psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, and all those with an interest in psychoanalytic and spiritual psychology.
Biography
Keri S. Cohen is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and a Board-Certified Diplomate in clinical social work. She is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist in private practice in Pennsylvania, USA.
Loray Daws is a registered Clinical Psychologist in South Africa and British Columbia, Canada. He is currently in private practice and is a senior faculty member at the International Masterson Institute in New York, USA.
Primary Process Impacts and Dreaming the Undreamable Object in the Work of Michael Eigen: Becoming the Welcoming Object
"Meaning in Eigen's works always reflects the readers' efforts as much as they do Eigen's. In this book, Eigen's experts creatively discuss Eigen's texts on primary process impacts and dreaming. What a life project these authors imagine – one that encourages us to grow the capacity to open up and welcome any experience, including catastrophic ones. Irrespective of your analytic school, this book will profoundly influence your understanding of patients because it articulates the most thorny dimensions of human existence – the scream inside, the catastrophic change, the primary emotional storm, vulnerability, and permeability." - Professor Aner Govrin, The Program for Hermeneutics & Cultural Studies, Bar-Ilan University, Israel
“This unique book Primary Process Impact and Dreaming the Undreamable Object in the Work of Michael Eigen edited in a highly committed way by Loray Daws and Keri Cohen, promises readers an extraordinary journey in which, chapter by chapter, fourteen authors, in a conversational style, share the inspirational work of Michael Eigen in both, clinically and personally. They also present sparkling and original ideas that show the creative internal dialogue that every author holds with Michael; in doing it, at every turn of the page, the reader will find infinite emotional experiences.” - Jani Santamaria, child and adult psychoanalyst, Mexican Psychoanalytic Association
Toxic Nourishment and Damaged Bonds in the Work of Michael Eigen: Working with the Obstructive Object
"This work is the product of 13 experienced clinicians who are creative thinkers and thought-provoking writers. These thoughtful essays, enriched with clinical material, urge us to deepen our insight into Eigen's welcome-obstructive qualities of human relations. It is landmark work for all clinicians from beginning to highly advanced. Read this book to understand how to work with Eigen's dualities and intricate ideas.” - Professor Aner Govrin, The Program for Hermeneutics & Cultural Studies, Bar-Ilan University, Israel
“Keri Cohen and Loray Daws have done an outstanding job editing the book Toxic Nourishment and Damaged Bonds in the Work of Michael Eigen. With a palpable affect and gratitude for Michael, thirteen authors offered their ideas to an experience in depth-reading of his work. The authors express their views in a Language of achievement, which, as Bion (1970) defined it, manages to hold onto uncertainties and mysteries without an irritating search for reasons and truths. Through their contributions, readers will be magically transported and enveloped in Eigen's vital work.” - Jani Santamaria, child and adult psychoanalyst, Mexican Psychoanalytic Association
