1st Edition

Learning from Life Becoming a Psychoanalyst

By Patrick Casement Copyright 2006
    224 Pages
    by Routledge

    224 Pages
    by Routledge

    All of life can be a resource for our learning. In his fourth and most personal book, Patrick Casement attempts to understand what he has learned from life, sharing a wide range of those experiences that have helped shape the analyst he has become.

    Patrick Casement shares various incidents in his life to demonstrate how these helped lay a foundation for his subsequent understanding of psychoanalysis. These examples from his life and work are powerful and at times very moving, but always filled with hope and compassion.

    This unique book gives a fascinating insight into fundamental questions concerning the acquisition of analytic wisdom and how personal experiences shape the analyst's approach to clinical work. It will be of great interest to all psychoanalysts and psychoanalytic psychotherapists.


    Williams, Foreword. Introduction. Part I: Development. Learning From Life. An Emerging Sense of Direction. Finding a Place for Theory. Learning to Say "No". Hate and Containment. Samuel Beckett's Relationship to his Mother-tongue. Mourning and Failure to Mourn. Internal Supervision in Process: A Case Presentation. Developing Clinical Antennae. Part II: Reflections. Some Things Difficult to Explain. Certainty and Non-certainty. Looking Back.

    Biography

    Patrick Casement has been a psychoanalyst and therapist in full-time private practice for many years, having previously been a social worker. He is author of On Learning from the Patient and Further Learning from the Patient. His last book Learning from Our Mistakes received a Gradiva award for its contribution to psychoanalysis.

    "...I recommend it whole-heartedly..." Martin Smith, Journal of Social Work Practice

    "An interesting, delightful and insightful read." - Journal of Analytical Psychology 2007 (52) 

    "The book is insightful and follows a familiar trope to his previous writings. It is well worth the read." - Jennifer Silverstone, Reflections Magazine, Summer 2007

    "This book touches both heart and mind." - Therapy Today