Overview

This groundbreaking study has been widely hailed for its focus on a human emotion generally considered impervious to rational analysis: romantic, passionate love. Ethel Person views romantic love as a powerful agent of change, arguing that it is as central to human culture as it is to human existence. This new edition of Dreams of Love and Fateful Encounters emphasizes the relevance of passion not only to lovers but also to mental health professionals whose patients often enter treatment because of love-related issues—from the inability to love or make a commitment to the perils of extramarital love to love sickness or loss of love. She forthrightly addresses not only the power of love to unlock the soul but also its inherent paradoxes and conflicts. Employing a philosophical perspective in order to understand the existential dilemmas posed by love, and a cultural perspective in order to understand its cultural variability, Dr. Person breaks with contemporary intellectual and philosophical dismissive assumptions about romantic love. She acknowledges love's vital importance and power, proposing that passion serves an important function not only for the individual but also for the culture while charging psychoanalysis with a reductionist emphasis on sexuality and psychopathology that has narrowed the focus of inquiry into love. Among the issues she discusses are: • romantic love's sources in our early lives, its relationship to imagination and creativity, and its capacity to enable the lover to transcend the self • how romantic love often demands a reordering of values and promotes personal growth by exposing the self to new risks and possibilities • the transformational potential of transference love in the therapy process • flaws in the common misperception that women are more influenced by romantic love than men • considerations of homosexual love, love across generations, and love triangles, focusing on the individual growth that can result from such relationships Citing accounts of love drawn from literature, film, and real life, Person focuses on the lover's internal soliloquy and external dialogue with the beloved that can develop over an individual's life. An uplifting resource for people experiencing failing or unorthodox romances, Dreams of Love and Fateful Encounters boldly takes on issues pertinent to lovers, to professionals who encounter patients for whom key conflicts revolve around romantic love, and to anyone who has struggled to understand the importance of romantic love in his or her own life.

Full Product Details

Author:   Ethel S. Person, MD
Publisher:   American Psychiatric Association Publishing
Imprint:   American Psychiatric Association Publishing
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 1.90cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.553kg
ISBN:  

9781585622405

ISBN 10:   1585622400
Pages:   405
Publication Date:   23 December 2006
Recommended Age:   From 18 years
Audience:   General/trade ,  College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  General ,  Undergraduate
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Reprint Edition Introduction PART I: The Experience of Romantic Love Chapter 1. Falling in Love Chapter 2. Love Realized: The Idyllic Phase Chapter 3. Love's Divided Nature: The Pleasure and Pain of Romantic Love PART II: The Aims of Love Chapter 4. How Love Develops: Love Dialogues and the Life Cycle Chapter 5. The Creative Synthesis in Love PART III: The Paradoxes and Struggles Inherent in Love Chapter 6. Self-Surrender: Transcendence Versus Enslavement Chapter 7. The Link Between Love and Power Chapter 8. Disillusionment Chapter 9. Triangles PART IV: The Gender Difference in Love Chapter 10. Transference Love and Romantic Love Chapter 11. Modes of Self-Realization: Women and Romance, Men and Power PART V: The Fate of Love Chapter 12. Unhappy Love: Experience and Consequences Chapter 13. Love That Enriches, Love That Endures Final Thoughts: Romantic Love as an Agent of Change Notes References Index

Reviews

Encompassing the subtle blending of infinite shades and hues from the palates of emotion and cognition, romantic love is a seminal force that shapes the human condition. Behavioral scholars have, nonetheless, eschewed intensive study of romantic love - largely because of its inherent complexity and innate elusiveness. Encountering this breach with the passion, creativity, and transcendence that mirrors romantic love, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Ethel Person has crafted a pioneering work that provides luminous and illuminating insights and conceptual coherence to the subject. I whole-heartedly recommend Dreams of Romantic Love and Fateful Encounters as a unique and indispensable resource for mental health practitioners of all stripes (including my fellow neuropsychiatrists) and for the patients and families whom we serve. - Stuart C. Yudofsky, M.D., D.C. and Irene Ellwood Professor and Chair, The Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas

Author Information

Ethel S. Person, M.D., is Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, and Training and Supervising Analyst at the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research, in New York City.

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