Using Early Memories in Psychotherapy

Roadmaps to Presenting Problems and Treatment Impasses

By (author) Michael Karson

Publication date:

27 April 2006

Length of book:

244 pages

Publisher

Jason Aronson, Inc.

ISBN-13: 9780765703958

Certain intrinsic features of early memories make them analogous to life problems and to the therapy relationship: childhood tends to imply situations that are confusing, disempowered, or impulsive, and relationships that are parental, intimate, or defining. When early memories are examined, the results can be personally meaningful to the individual and relevant to the presenting problem and to the therapy. This book recommends strategies for using early memories to enhance the working alliance, to make psychological sense of presenting problems, and to resolve treatment impasses.

Chapter 1 Why Early Memories?
Chapter 2 Early Memories as Guides to Presenting Problems and Treatment Impasses
Chapter 3 Memory Is Something We Do, Not Something We Have
Chapter 4 Systems Theory, Psychotherapy, and Reporting Memories
Chapter 5 Critical Review of the Literature: Freud, Adler, Mayman, and Bruhn
Chapter 6 Early Memories as Roadmaps
Chapter 7 A Systemic View of the Psyche
Chapter 8 Step-by-Step Interpretation
Chapter 9 Interpretive Examples
Chapter 10 Enhancing the Working Alliance
Chapter 11 Finding a Place to Stand
Chapter 12 Illuminating Presenting Problems
Chapter 13 Anticipating and Resolving Treatment Impasses
Chapter 14 Deadly Therapy

This concise yet clinically rich book is an insightful guide to the ever perplexing labyrinth of memory as it affects our emotional lives. Deftly, it interweaves early Freudian notions, views of Adler, Mayman, and Bruhn, and contemporary advances in the understanding of memory-related phenomena. The result is a striking elucidation of the multi-layered meaning and impact of early experience upon us. Side-by-side this theoretical intrigue exist superb technical innovations that enhance our capacity for understanding and enrich our skills as therapists!