Family of Origin: The View from the Parents' Side

Families in which there is increased marital conflict after a relatively stable long-term marriage are a puzzle to the clinician. The author's thesis, based on experience with a group of middle-aged couples whose children's differentiation occurred after having been in individual therapy themselves, is that the differentiated child carried special psychic functions for one parent. The differentiation was experienced as tantamount to ego loss, and that parent's attempt to deal with the inner conflict resulted in a marital crisis.     

The Creative Mode of Being

Because of misperceptions about the nature of creativity, many creative children are misunderstood in and out of their classrooms. Based on a close association with creative adults and childrenn, the authors postulate that creativity is a state of being that is challenged by the socialization process in Western civilization. The authors envisage two differing states of being namely, an essential and a conventional. These states represent end points on a continuum. Creative adults speak of their struggle to try and regain something of their original state of being. Understanding creative children who are closer to the essential state is important for their emotional well-being and the nurturing of their creativity.     

Writing and Publishing Books in Counseling: A Survey of Authors

This article presents data and ideas from 74 authors who published books in the field of counseling. The process of writing and publishing books is reviewed, and information is provided on typical timetables, book contracts, and remuneration. Suggestions are provided for selecting publishers and obtaining and negotiating contracts. Authors were generally very satisfied with the experience of writing a book.     

Looks That Kill the Capacity for Thought

In this paper I explore ways in which the fundamental balance between life and death forces is portrayed within the Oedipus myth, showing how there are times when, as theorists, we are blind to the on-going dynamic polarities contained within the myth. Using clinical case material I explore the vicissitudes of the theme of infanticide and the impact of the infanticidal impulse on thinking processes and how things come together in the mind. I consider the link between the infanticidal impulse and what may be being symbolized by physiological problems with eyes and wombs. I give examples of the clinical use I have made of a variety of theoretical ideas which enabled my capacity for thought at those times when much of what was taking place was unthinkable.