Description
Book SynopsisSelf Defense in a Narcissistic World explores a new, basically unrecognized and highly prevalent everyday addiction: power trips. Author Gerald Alper examines the disastrous consequences of this simple but insidious, and largely unconscious, cultural and psychological phenomenon. Discussed in the book are vivid everyday occurrences of power trips, including myriads of therapy trips, or subtle power transactions between therapist and patient. A key section is then devoted to revealing the strategies and dynamics of power trips. The author also offers a sober consideration of consequences suffered when the psychodynamics of a power trip are performed on the world stage.
Trade ReviewGerald Alper never writes a dull book. A novelist and short story writer turned psychotherapist, he has one of the more creative analytic minds of his generation. -- Jerome David Levin, Ph.D., Faculty Supervisor, Post Graduate Center for Mental Health
Alper's books represent a crowning contribution to the psychology of creativity in psychotherapy. -- Erwin Randolph Parson, Ph.D. * Former Editor Of The Journal Of Contemporary Psychotherapy *
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Preface Chapter 2 Everyday Examples: The Untouchable; Fighting the Enemy; Defensive Benefits from Demonizing the Enemy; And Baby Makes Three; God and Power; The Unreturned Telephone Call; The Letter; The Creation of Nothing; The Dynamics; Benefits of Creating Nothing Chapter 3 Therapy Trips: The Differences of Power; The Patient; The Therapist; "I Never Thought of You as a Man Before"; Turning the Tables; Abandoning the Therapist; Depriving the Therapist; "I'm From Missouri- Show Me"; "I Want a New Contract"; Not Relating Chapter 4 Strategies and Dynamics of Power Trips: Characteristics of Power Trips; Painting Someone Into a Corner; Hierarchical Relating; Example 1; Example 2; Example 3: The One Hundred Greatest Minds of the Century; At Home With the Sopranos; Dynamics of Int Chapter 5 The World We Live In: Trial By Jury; The Ultimate Power Trip; Postmodern Politics; The Fate of the Politics of Power and the New Millennium; September 11: Though the Lens of a Psychotherapist Chapter 6 Conclusion Chapter 7 References
