The Healing of Trauma during Pregnancy, Birth, and the First Years of Life: From Dreaming to Being focuses on the inner world of the woman in the creative processes of pregnancy, birth, and early life and the healing of the traumas of this period. It gives an in-depth understanding of the Aboriginal woman during pregnancy, birth, and infancy and the effects of culture and transgenerational trauma on these processes.

Shalini Masih grew up in a stimulating environment of priests and healers, witnessing firsthand states of spirit possession and exorcism. In adulthood, she revisited these experiences, motivating her to extend psychoanalysis outside the clinic's realms into spaces of traditional healing. The outcome of her detailed exploration acknowledges the hugely productive interface between cultural manifestations and concerns of psychoanalysis without reducing the phenomenon of spirit possession to something formulaic. Instead, Psychoanalytic Conversations with States of Spirit Possession: Beauty in Brokenness highlights the intrinsic beauty of this complex experience, illustrating relevant themes through culturally sensitive psychoanalytic conversations with participants who felt haunted and possessed by ghosts. The author's journey reveals the ghosts of her own inner world. She draws upon her reveries, dreams, and nightmares to make sense of the unconscious processes in her informant's testimonies, journeys that are so often undertaken from one grotesque ghost to another until these ghastly beings reappear as broken part-selves in search of the glue of spiritual meaning.

How did we develop our current views of inner life? Psychic Mimesis From Bible and Homer to the Present: Inner Life Over Time reaches back to Biblical and Homeric times, then sweeps across over two millennia of Western literature to answer this question. We discover that while there are discrete contributions from different eras/cultures about inner life—volition, ego ideal, superego, development as a journey, relatedness, even the fact of innerness—there are also at least three trends that have endured from the beginning of our literature and continue as ostinatos beneath each theme and variation of development. These are emotions and our need to conceal and reveal secrets and attachment that is our ability to explore from a secure base. This book takes us through the journey of discovery to arrive at our twenty-first century sense of self and inner life. We follow Auerbach’s text, Mimesis, as a guide through the literature, but add surprises such as Maimonides’ Guide to the perplexed or Rousseau’s Confessions to arrive at the sense that while there are particularities to eras and cultures, there is also something universal that resonates with us and endures.

Sport and Psychoanalysis: What Sport Reveals about Our Unconscious Desires, Fantasies, and Fears explores the intersection of sport and psychoanalysis, emphasizing the often-overlooked psycho-social dimensions underpinning the experience of sport. By challenging the idea that sport offers an “escape” from reality—a realm separate to the politics of everyday life—each chapter critically considers the unconscious desires, fantasies, and fears that underpin the sporting spectacle for both participants and spectators. Indeed, beyond simply applying psychoanalysis to sport, this book proposes how sport can be used to pose questions to psychoanalysis, thus using sport as a medium to elucidate key psychoanalytic ideas and concepts. This volume addresses a diverse range of theorists, including Sigmund Freud, Jacques Lacan, Lou Andreas-Salomé, Norman O. Brown, and Frantz Fanon, and applies them across a variety of topics and sports, including NFL coaching, Manny Pacquiao, play, football, basketball, baseball, poker, and the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, therefore providing a unique understanding of the cultural, social, and psychic significance of sports. A timely and relevant collection, this book will appeal to scholars and practitioners interested in understanding sport from both the cultural and clinical application of psychoanalytic theory as well as academics and practitioners in sport studies, psychology, sociology, education, and cultural studies.

This book looks at the political aspects of comedy and how humor is shaped by unconscious social and psychological factors within a particular cultural and historical context. Updating Freud’s work on jokes, Robert Samuels argues that any universal model of comedy must take into account the role played by distinct genres, which are themselves determined by particular political psychopathologies. In looking at contemporary comedy, we encounter a structure that is often seen throughout the world: in response to what is experienced as a Leftist super-ego censoring thoughts and speech and a Libertarian Right which promotes free speech as the ultimate value. Within this dynamic, comedians seeking to make their audience laugh by poking fun at sensitive and taboo subjects, intentionally and unintentionally, these humorists present an alternative to Left-wing political correctness and identity politics. Contemporary comedians then cannot help but to cater to Right-wing politics since the Right is centered on loudly rejecting the cultural dictations of the Left.

When an individual has not resolved a negative experience, the stored trauma may lead to such physical problems as high blood pressure, asthma, headaches, gastritis, addictive behavior, and learning disabilities. This book adds form and substance to homeopathic healing, aligning older theories in the Organon with modern psychological theory about how disease takes hold in our body.

Why do coaches need to understand trauma? This book highlights the role coaches must play – and how it differs to psychotherapists – in supporting clients with trauma. A role that both enhances the coach's skills and supports their clients’ personal development. Trauma isn’t an event, it is a lasting internal process through which the ‘here and now’ of life experience is affected by the ‘there and then’ of traumatising experience. Vaughan Smith provides a way to understand the internal process that affects all aspects of our physical and mental wellbeing. While providing an introduction to the theory of trauma, the main focus is on practical application within the context of coaching; distilling Franz Ruppert's theory of the surviving self and the healthy self. Written for practitioners, this important text raises trauma awareness, addresses the ‘what if?’ questions many coaches have and provides a clear framework for implementation. Rarely do coaching or organisational development books address the very prevalent issue of trauma and yet this is something every coach will come across in their practice. “This book busts the myth that trauma has nothing to do with coaching, while underlining clearly how coaches can maintain appropriate boundaries. A real gift to the profession and absolutely essential reading for any coaching supervisor.” Paul Heardman, Leadership Coach and Coaching Supervisor “A clear, enlightening, practical book that is well-grounded in theory.” Carolyn Mumby, Executive and Personal Coach-Therapist, Supervisor and Facilitator, Chair BACP Coaching Division “This is a book that coaching has been missing. From the first pages it’s clear that we are in safe hands as Julia guides us through a topic that is sadly still taboo for many coaches.” Helen Sieroda, Director Wise Goose School of Coaching “Necessary reading for anyone serious about coaching. It’s a profound book, and because it goes deep, it reveals fertile possibilities. It touches, evokes and - with great care - honours our necessary inventiveness.” Jonathan Gosling, Emeritus Professor of Leadership, Exeter University and co-founder of CoachingOurselves.com "This book should interest therapists and coaches. If not, they should ask themselves why. It is a magnificent fusion of Julia's career as a clinician, manager, management consultant, therapist, coach and author.” Brian Lewis, Bellettes Bay Company, Tasmania, Australia “Essential reading for coaching supervisors and coaches. It has transformed my practice." Dr Louise Sheppard, Coaching Supervisor and Executive Coach at Praesta Partners LLP “A must for anyone wanting to take their coaching to another level.” Shirley Greenaway, Executive Coach, Head of Coaching at Management Futures

Traumatizing events can break a person. However, a series of small but inevitable pinpricks, lovelessness and ambivalent relationships can also ruin a person. A traumatic event touches and invades a person unspeakably deeply. This book attempts to put into words the psychic abyss of trauma, which the victim experiences, and helps to detect and understand possible traumatization. It wants to encourage traumatized people and their counsellors to choose the path of small steps out of the trauma. In this way, previously traumatized people can rediscover their dignity. The path leads from an existence dictated by the outside world to a self-determined life.

In Systemic Constellations: Theory, Practice, and Applications, Damian Janus examines systemic constellations, a breakthrough method of psychotherapy, coaching, and consulting developed by Bert Hellinger. Janus examines numerous case studies and addresses the broad potential of Hellinger’s approach for improving clients’ mental and physical health as well as for solving various issues of businesses and organizations.

By offering an empowering personal program of self-care in recovery, this book provides guidance for everyone affected by widespread modern 'addictiveness'. The book explores Ayurveda's understanding of both the problem of our 'one addiction process' and its solution. It offers holistic techniques that enhance any of the traditional recovery pathways and beyond any of the common diet/exercise dogma from mainstream media. It covers the stress/addictive tendencies of the doshic types, and links this to how stress affects metabolism, the main determinant of health. The program offered in the book is an integration of the philosophy, psychology and physical practices of Yoga and Ayurveda to help people shift their life trajectory. With Yoga of Recovery, author Durga Leela presents a complete resource for working with individuals recovering from addiction.