Robert W. Firestone

This book offers a hypothesis centering around the concept of the "Fantasy Bond," an illusion of connection formed with the mother and later with significant others in the individual's environment.

Book by Firestone, Robert W., Catlett, Joyce

The inner critic is the voice in our heads that whispers, whines, and needles us into poor self-esteem and self-confidence. It edits our thoughts, controls our behavior, and inhibits our actions. It thinks it is protecting us from being hurt or feeling abandoned, but all it really does is reinforce our feelings of shame and guilt, sabotage our intimate relationships, and incline us to self-destructive behaviors. Conquer Your Critical Inner Voice presents a revolutionary new strategy for dealing with the inner critic: externalizing it. This subtle, powerful technique turns internal self-criticisms into 'you' statements that can be evaluated objectively and exposed as the gross exaggerations, unfair comparisons, or flat out lies they really are. This book takes you through the step-by-step process of learning how to keep track of your negative thoughts, analyze their reality, and recognize how they impact your life. Learn to use a variety of techniques to help release your inner critic's stranglehold and combat its subversive effect on your career achievement, intimate relationships, and sexuality. A final chapter of the book offers parents simple ways to help their children avoid forming a tyrannical inner critic.

Many people grapple with destructive thought processes or a "critical inner voice" that directs their behavior and, to varying degrees, limits their lives. Using deeply personal and very human stories based on his own clinical practice, noted psychologist Robert W. Firestone illustrates the struggles of his clients to give words to this "enemy within," and in the process overcome its damaging influence. These revealing and captivating stories offer glimpses into the uniquely human relationship that develops in the therapeutic encounter and demonstrate the powerful impact that the experience has on both client and therapist.Dr. Firestone is the originator of a therapeutic method called "Voice Therapy," by which clients learn to identify the language of the defense system and eventually separate their own point of view from its harmful effects. Each story provides an intimate look into one person's life, illuminates aspects of his or her "dark side," and highlights an important insight into the therapeutic process.This sensitively written book will evoke emotional responses in readers, and inspire them to take action to challenge the dictates of their own inner critic. Taken together, these stories underscore the distinctive merits and continuing relevance of the therapeutic process, especially in our distracted, technological world increasingly detached from feeling.

Psychological Defenses in Everyday Life is a rich resouce that broadens personal understanding by examining the origins of childhood misery, subsequent defense formation, and the pervasiveness and destructiveness of the resulting maladaptive, addictive behaviors in adults. Numerous case histories show people rejecting love and companionship for imagined connections and illusions. The authors point a way toward reversing the damaging process that keeps individuals from experiencing genuine satisfaction.

How much of our identity or 'self' is truly representative of our own wants, needs, and goals in life and how much does it reflect the desires and priorities of someone else? Are we following our own destiny or are we unconsciously repeating the lives of our parents, living according to their values, ideals, and beliefs? In this thought-provoking book, noted clinical psychologist Robert Firestone and his co-authors explore the struggle that all of us face in striving to retain a sense of ourselves as unique individuals. The self is under siege from several primarily pain and rejection in the developmental years, problems in relationships, detrimental societal forces, and existential realities that affect all people. Through numerous case studies and personal stories from men and women who participated in a 35-year observational study, the authors illustrate how voice therapy, a cognitive/affective/behavioral methodology pioneered by Firestone, is used to elicit, identify, and challenge the destructive inner voice and to change aversive behaviors based on its prescriptions. The theory they describe integrates the psychodynamic and existential approaches underlying voice therapy and is enriched by research findings in the neurosciences, attachment research, and terror management theory (TMT). An important addition to the area of personality development theory, The Self under Siege offers a new perspective on differentiation and the battle to separate ourselves from the chains of the past. It provides psychotherapists and other mental health professionals with the tools needed to help clients differentiate from the dysfunctional attitudes and toxic personality traits of their parents, other family members, and harmful societal influences that have unconsciously dominated their lives. This book will have a special appeal to clients and, in fact, to any person interested in his/her own personal development

This book fruitfully serves those looking to apply Ernest Becker's ideas psychotherapeutically, in individual counseling or in group therapy. A capstone to Robert Firestone's 50 years of work in psychotherapy, psychoanalysis and psychiatry and to the numerous books written by these authors, Firestone and Catlett show how to apply the themes and implications of the ideas of Ernest Becker in everyday life. Their basic premise is that accepting death is part of developing an affirming and meaningful experience of life. Contributing to the credibility of their presentation is the wealth of clinical evidence and personal experience Firestone and Catlett incorporate. --The Ernest Becker Foundation [F]ascinating and an enjoyable read....steeped in well researched and relevant psychological and sociological perspectives applicable to all social studies areas..." -- Carol LloydUniversity of ChichesterFirestone and Catlett's work is a marvelous achievement....This volume is both innovative and intrepid. Firestone and Catlett challenge prevailing psychoanalytic views on death and they demolish many of the accepted canons of thanatology and existential psychology. ...This is required reading for anyone who purports to talk about death."-- Jerry Piven, PhDAuthor of Death and A Freudian Analysis of Mortal Terror [A] towering synthesis of personal and clinical wisdom about death....with a superb overview of the psychology of death and death anxiety....Dr. Firestone draws on the best of the existential-humanistic as well as the psychoanalytic thinkers to address a flourishing path toward self-realization.-Kirk J. Schneider, PhDAuthor, Existential-Integrative Psychotherapy and Awakening to Awe(From the Foreword)Firestone and Catlett's groundbreaking volume assists mental health practitioners in helping their clients learn to accept and face their mortality. They describe the many defenses of death anxiety that keep individuals from achieving personal fulfillment, and also suggest methods to cope directly with fears of death; an approach that, ironically, can lead to more satisfaction, more freedom, and a greater appreciation for the gift of life. This book examines the many destructive consequences of death anxiety, including introversion, depression, and withdrawal from life. Throughout the book, the authors demonstrate the importance of achieving what they call life-affirming death awareness. Key topics With this book, mental health practitioners and their clients will be able to better understand death awareness, overcome the defenses against death anxiety, and ultimately lead richer, more fulfilling lives.

In accessible language and through the liberal use of case material from therapy sessions, the authors show how clients can be helped to overcome sex and intimacy challenges and become physically and emotionally closer to their partners.

Clinical psychologists identify and describe the defensive process that constrains people from making positive changes in their lives. They summarize the insights they gained while developing a more decent and respectful way of living as a response to the destructiveness of society.

This work provides clinicians with a detailed description of Voice Therapy, a cognitive/affective/behavioral technique developed by Dr. Firestone that can be used to elicit and bring to the foreground negative thought patterns antithetical to the self and cynical toward others.

This much-anticipated follow-up to the critically-acclaimed and bestselling The Fantasy Bond tackles the complex question of why so many of us are compelled to repeat the pain of our past while avoiding positive experiences that could enrich our lives.

What internal factors cause a person to end his or her life, and what are the familial and societal factors which seem to make a destructive contribution? The answers to both questions are at the heart of this volume, which will be invaluable for practitioners when assessing risk and designing treatment for depressed and suicidal patients.The author argues that the key to understanding suicidal behaviour comes from a knowledge of the destructive thought processes of those at risk, and an awareness of their origins in early family interactions. Firestone sees negative events in our lives as being less harmful than what we tell ourselves about them, which can result in a downward spiral of negative internal conversations. Wi

What keeps people from living in ways that satisfy their individual needs and priorities? This book explores psychotherapist Robert W Firestone′s voice therapy technique, the goal of which is to uncover these limiting forces, which are represented by internal messages or voices. Firestone maintains that from childhood, people are prevented from experiencing an individuated life by the pressures of society, particularly the nuclear family. He expounds the theory, which synthesizes psychodynamic and existential approaches, behind his technique. He demonstrates how the therapy helps clients reveal these voices quickly, recognize their source and begin to take a path to a meaningful life.

The Enemy Separation Theory and Voice Therapy is a compendium of the life work of theorist and clinical psychologist, Robert Firestone. An in-depth exploration of the author’s latest findings, the books brings to light his holistic approach to understanding human behavior, relationships, and crucial socio-political issues. It also provides fresh insights into the critical inner voice and fantasy the key concepts in the Firestone’s theoretical approach. Separation Theory is derived from Firestone’s primary focus in psychotherapy on helping individuals separate from critical inner voices and destructive emotional ties or fantasy bonds. Various applications of Voice Therapy — a powerful technique that enables clients to challenge their destructive thoughts — are also described.“A commanding articulation of Separation Theory and Voice Therapy in the service of fostering ‘life-affirming death awareness’ by one of the most influential theorists and clinicians of our times.”Sheldon Solomon, PhDProfessor of PsychologySkidmore College“Rich with examples, the work highlights his crucial concepts of the ‘inner voice’ and ‘fantasy bond,’ which have enlightened our understanding of dynamic processes of human development, with new implications for understanding current socio-political issues.”Donald K. Freedheim, PhDProfessor Emeritus of PsychologyCase Western Reserve University“Filled with case examples it illuminates the role of the voice and fantasy bond in such powerful issues as violence and A must-read for clinicians and students who want to learn how to work in depth with the self-destructive voice and the fantasy bond.”Leslie S. Greenberg, PhDDistinguished Research ProfessorDept. of Psychology, York University“Thank you Robert Firestone for this comprehensive, practical and precious work identifying The Enemy Within and providing clear strategies for addressing resistance in psychotherapy, but more important, our own resistance to a better life.”Pat Love, EdDAuthor of Hot Monogamy,The Truth About Love, andHow to Improve Your Marriage Without Talking About It“… the culmination of a lifetime of insight into the human heart beginning with children’s relationships to parents and by implication the wondrous yet trepidating existence around them. Combining both extensive data from his own practice, as well as experience at the forefront of the intentional community movement, Firestone has produced a milestone of incisive, illuminating and practical guidance to the core of therapeutic healing–as well as cultural healing in my view.”Kirk Schneider, PhDAuthor of The Spirituality of Aweand Existential-Humanistic Therapy“Once again demonstrating the wisdom of integrating psychoanalytic and existential themes, Firestone brings to bear his long and deep experience in understanding and healing the human condition. He introduces important concepts that constitute a kind of psychological matter and anti-matter to unlock some crucial challenges we must face as individual people and as a collective humanity.”James Garbarino, PhDMaude C. Clarke Chair in Humanistic PsychologyLoyola University ChicagoAuthor of The Lost Boys and Listening to Killers

The An Approach to a Psychological Robert Firestone; Joyce The An Approach to a Psychological Everest FIRST First Edition Thus, First Printing. Not price-clipped. Published by Evert House, 1982. Octavo. Paperback. Book is very good with very light edgewear. 100% positive feedback. 30 day money back guarantee. NEXT DAY SHIPPING! Excellent customer service. Please email with any questions. All books packed carefully and ship with free delivery confirmation/tracking. All books come with free bookmarks. Ships from Sag Harbor, New York.Seller 309228 Philosophy & Psychology We Buy Books! Collections - Libraries - Estates - Individual Titles. Message us if you have books to sell!

Many people grapple with destructive thought processes or a "critical inner voice" that directs their behavior and, to varying degrees, limits their lives. Using deeply personal and very human stories based on his own clinical practice, noted psychologist Robert W. Firestone illustrates the struggles of his clients to give words to this "enemy within", and in the process overcome its damaging influence. These revealing and captivating stories offer glimpses into the uniquely human relationship that develops in the therapeutic encounter and demonstrate the powerful impact that the experience has on both client and therapist.Dr. Firestone is the originator of a therapeutic method called "Voice Therapy", by which clients learn to identify the language of the defense system and eventually separate their own point of view from its harmful effects. Each story provides an intimate look into one person's life, illuminates aspects of his or her "dark side", and highlights an important insight into the therapeutic process.This sensitively written book will evoke emotional responses in listeners, and inspire them to take action to challenge the dictates of their own inner critic.

This book offers a hypothesis centering around the concept of the "Fantasy Bond", an illusion of connection formed with the mother and later with significant others in the individual's environment.

Many people grapple with destructive thought processes or a "critical inner voice" that directs their behavior and, to varying degrees, limits their lives. Using deeply personal and very human stories based on his own clinical practice, noted psychologist Robert W. Firestone illustrates the struggles of his clients to give words to this "enemy within," and in the process overcome its damaging influence. These revealing and captivating stories offer glimpses into the uniquely human relationship that develops in the therapeutic encounter and demonstrate the powerful impact that the experience has on both client and therapist.Dr. Firestone is the originator of a therapeutic method called "Voice Therapy," by which clients learn to identify the language of the defense system and eventually separate their own point of view from its harmful effects. Each story provides an intimate look into one person's life, illuminates aspects of his or her "dark side," and highlights an important insight into the therapeutic process.This sensitively written book will evoke emotional responses in readers, and inspire them to take action to challenge the dictates of their own inner critic. Taken together, these stories underscore the distinctive merits and continuing relevance of the therapeutic process, especially in our distracted, technological world increasingly detached from feeling.