This collection of case studies and essays presents Freudian and post Freudian psychoanalytic views of how women develop. Laura Arens Fuerstein traces the histories of women who had distant, cold, dominant mothers and who subsequently developed ties to abusive men. Carolyn Celentano examines the lives of women who had suffocating, intrusive mothers. Ronald W.Levin explains how medical treatment can exacerbate psychosomatic symptoms in patients who had troubled interactions with both parents. Kenneth R.King and Theodore L.Dorpat present an account of an analysis of a father-daughter incest...

In this volume, a well-known psychoanalyst, dance therapist, and educational consultant chronicles her clinical work with deeply troubled children who fall between the cracks of our diagnostic and educational systems. These children, who frequently turn out to have been sexually or punitively abused, have no real emotional home despite the fact that they live in materially comfortable circumstances. In spite of their apparent brightness and precocity, they do not thrive in the classroom, where their disruptive behavior, tendency to act out, and fragmented learning bring them to the attention...

Reviews

"Elaine Siegel presents us with the fascinating story of her survival as a Jewish child in Nazi Berlin. Full of detail and laced with pungent observations of the adults around her, Siegel's memoir recreates the child's view of, and emotional reactions to, the Nazi coming to power with astuteness and clarity." -- Susannah Heschel, Eli Black Professor of Jewish Studies, Dartmouth College Product Description

"We spied on our families, just like the Hitler Youth had exhorted us to do, but not to catch them in the midst of illicit or illegal acts. We had a different purpose: We...

Describing in detail her analytic treatment of eight female homosexuals with common symptoms of incomplete body image and unconscious denial of differences between the sexes, Siegel details the recurring treatment phases that typified their analyses and offers formulations based on both ego-developmental and object-relational perspectives. She candidly describes the countertransferential issues that entered into the treatment of these women and examines basic societal assumptions about sexuality that are imprinted on the analyst.

In recent years, memories and reconstructions of incestuous child abuse have become common features of psychoanalytic treatment. Among some clinicians, such abuse is suspected even when there is little evidence. How does the analyst distinguish between incest real and imagined, and how do recovered memories of incest affect the analyst?

In this poignant and beautifully written study, Elaine Siegel brings new insights to bear on these timely questions. An inveterate note taker, she discloses the countertransferential ruminations and associations to the occurrence of incest at various...

In this volume, a well-known psychoanalyst, dance therapist, and educational consultant chronicles her clinical work with deeply troubled children who fall between the cracks of our diagnostic and educational systems. These children, who frequently turn out to have been sexually or punitively abused, have no real emotional home despite the fact that they live in materially comfortable circumstances. In spite of their apparent brightness and precocity, they do not thrive in the classroom, where their disruptive behavior, tendency to act out, and fragmented learning bring them to the attention...