09/28/2015 Psychoanalyst Bollas (Catch Them Before They Fall) explores schizophrenia in a fascinating mix of memoir, case studies, and research. He presumes basic familiarity with psychological and psychoanalytic theory; nevertheless, the text will be accessible to the curious lay reader. Part One details the author’s journey into the field of psychoanalysis, starting when he worked as a counselor with severely autistic and psychotic children in Berkeley, Calif., in the 1960s and ’70s, and moving through his professional training and practice. The bulk of the book is dedicated to describing what it is like (in Bollas’s view) to be schizophrenic and to treat a schizophrenic person. Individual chapters are devoted to different manifestations of schizophrenia, such as hearing voices and experiencing somatoform disorders (mental illnesses with physical symptoms). These are results, according to Bollas, of the patient’s attempts to cope with altered perception by shutting out the world. He also discusses how to provide treatment through talk therapy. While Bollas acknowledges that his own experiences cannot furnish definitive proof, his belief is that intensive, one-on-one therapy can cure schizophrenia. This book is a remarkable look at a confounding illness and the practices of one seasoned, passionate analyst. (Nov.)
In this sensitive and evocative narrative, psychoanalyst Christopher Bollas draws on his personal experiences of working with people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia to offer an interpretation of how it develops as an understandable way of responding to our precariousness in a highly unpredictable world.”—Therapy Today
"This book is a remarkable look at a confounding illness and the practices of one seasoned, passionate analyst."—Publishers Weekly "The author's perspective embraces personal, social, and political life on a vulnerable planet. His expertise extends to civilization generally, making an esoteric specialty relevant to human improvement in general. The book is suited for a general audience interested in psychology applied to the most challenging dilemmas."—Library Journal , Starred Review"A vastly informative, coherent, and valuable assessment; useful and accessible for both mental health professionals and laypeople."—Kirkus Reviews "In this book, Christopher Bollas expresses an uncanny ability to enter the world of another simultaneously almost unconsciously or automatically employing his intricate knowledge of theory and clinical experience to navigate the life of the schizophrenic."—Carol Stratman, Michigan Psychological Association Finalist for the American Board & Academy of Psychoanalysis Book Prize in the Authored Books Category"Christopher Bollas has written a beautiful, humane, and profoundly moving book. It tells us not just about the world of schizophrenia but also about what it is for all of us to be human, struggling not to be too frightened to live in a world of chance events. Its stories of the work of therapy illustrate the patient effort that is involved in respecting another person, and, indeed, offer a paradigm of love."—Martha C. Nussbaum, The University of Chicago"Imaginative, heartfelt and moving, this is a beautiful book. Bollas' compassion and respect for his patients is palpable on these pages. The result is a sense of shared humanity, understanding and even hope. There's misery in When the Sun Bursts , and yet you will come away feeling ignited and consoled."—Stephen Grosz, author of The Examined Life "If you want a book that will give you the living, vibrant, painful process of truly working with schizophrenia, then read this book. Christopher Bollas is famous in the world of psychoanalysis and beyond for the way he pushes us to the limits of possible thought. Here, in the most resonant, sensitive and even poetic writing—writing which teaches us anew what it really means to listen—Bollas makes a crucial clinical and political intervention into the increasingly vexed question of how to approach mental disturbance in our time."—Jacqueline Rose, author of Women in Dark Times "Christopher Bollas writes with dazzling insight into the embattled mental world of schizophrenia. A profound and moving meditation on the tribulations of human subjectivity."—Barbara Taylor, author of The Last Asylum: a Memoir of Madness in Our Times (2014)"In this absorbing, elegant, and uplifting new book, Christopher Bollas takes the reader on a personal odyssey through schizophrenia. In an era of biological reductionism, Bollas reminds us that no one we encounter in our work is completely out of reach by another human being. We all owe Bollas a debt of gratitude for keeping alive the flame with this extraordinary contribution."—Glen O. Gabbard, Baylor College of Medicine
Finalist for the American Board & Academy of Psychoanalysis Book Prize in the Authored Books Category.
American Board & Academy of Psychoanalysis - Book Award
Bollas’s new book is his warmest and most accessible yet… a passionate and elegant account of his belief and experience that people diagnosed with schizophrenia can be treated through psychoanalysis.”—Gillian Ingram, Therapy Today
Therapy Today - Gillian Ingram
"In this absorbing, elegant, and uplifting new book, Christopher Bollas takes the reader on a personal odyssey through schizophrenia. In an era of biological reductionism, Bollas reminds us that no one we encounter in our work is completely out of reach by another human being. We all owe Bollas a debt of gratitude for keeping alive the flame with this extraordinary contribution."—Glen O. Gabbard, Baylor College of Medicine
Christopher Bollas writes with dazzling insight into the embattled mental world of schizophrenia. A profound and moving meditation on the tribulations of human subjectivity.”—Barbara Taylor, author of The Last Asylum: a Memoir of Madness in Our Times (2014)
"If you want a book that will give you the living, vibrant, painful process of truly working with schizophrenia, then read this book. Christopher Bollas is famous in the world of psychoanalysis and beyond for the way he pushes us to the limits of possible thought. Here, in the most resonant, sensitive and even poetic writing—writing which teaches us anew what it really means to listen—Bollas makes a crucial clinical and political intervention into the increasingly vexed question of how to approach mental disturbance in our time."—Jacqueline Rose, author of Women in Dark Times
"Imaginative, heartfelt and moving, this is a beautiful book. Bollas' compassion and respect for his patients is palpable on these pages. The result is a sense of shared humanity, understanding and even hope. There's misery in When the Sun Bursts , and yet you will come away feeling ignited and consoled."—Stephen Grosz, author of The Examined Life
Christopher Bollas has written a beautiful, humane, and profoundly moving book. It tells us not just about the world of schizophrenia but also about what it is for all of us to be human, struggling not to be too frightened to live in a world of chance events. Its stories of the work of therapy illustrate the patient effort that is involved in respecting another person, and, indeed, offer a paradigm of love.”—Martha C. Nussbaum, The University of Chicago
★ 11/01/2015 A psychoanalyst for 40 years, Bollas (China on the Mind) reports in detail on an uncommon but potentially important practice of psychotherapy with schizophrenics, a group most often treated with drugs. He reports positive outcomes for psychotic adults and children treated intensively—often daily, for years—in the United States and England. Among the author's mentors were Wilfred Bion, R.D. Laing, and Hanna Segal, and he benefitted from therapy himself after a breakdown in college. Bollas notes that routine medication treatment to hasten discharge from the hospital doesn't cure but numbs the mind. Intensive psychotherapy is most effective at the onset of psychosis. An expert on things human that lie beyond comprehension for most people, Bollas applies his insights to social issues such as political paranoia that fosters dehumanization, weapons, and war. VERDICT The author's perspective embraces personal, social, and political life on a vulnerable planet. His expertise extends to civilization generally, making an esoteric specialty relevant to human improvement in general. The book is suited for a general audience interested in psychology applied to the most challenging dilemmas.—E. James Lieberman, George Washington Univ. Sch. of Medicine, Washington, DC
2015-09-01 A contemporary appraisal of schizophrenia and its puzzling traits and treatments through the lens of a physician's esteemed 40-year practice. Building on his previous book, Catch Them Before They Fall: The Psychoanalysis of Breakdown (2013), which provided alternative methods of observing and treating psychotic breaks, veteran psychoanalyst Bollas presents a companion volume that skirts the causes and differing diagnoses of schizophrenia in favor of analyzing varying aspects of the condition itself. In an erudite, well-structured, three-part narrative, the author chronicles his early, intensive clinical experience with schizophrenic children and adults in the 1970s, accessible theoretical analysis of a typical patient's behavior, and the methodology of popular psychotherapeutic practice and how it can be tweaked for maximum effectiveness. In a set of vividly harrowing chapters, the author describes the "apocalyptic moments" leading up to a schizophrenic breakdown, clearly showing how frightful the illness can be to the patient, their loved ones, and even their caregivers. Also insightful are Bollas' explorations into schizophrenic speech, habitual behavior, and thought and personification patterning. He logically argues against assertions by associated mental health professionals that the illness is genetically determined and against the rampant prescribing of antipsychotic medications, which dull patients into what he calls a zombielike state. Too often, notes the author, patients are left at the mercy of a "throw the key away finality," with the human element of the afflicted wholly disregarded. Instead, Bollas advocates for more fundamental curative measures employing compassionate, natural body therapies like daily massages and methodical interpersonal communication between psychotherapist and patient, approaches that have been proven efficacious within the scope of his own clinical practice. Precisely when the psychotic break occurs becomes a key component as well: "Timing is everything in analytic work." A vastly informative, coherent, and valuable assessment; useful and accessible for both mental health professionals and laypeople—even those who don't share the author's unique perspectives and treatment alternatives.