Description
Book SynopsisBeauty is often an invisible yet potent presence in clinical work. The Psychology of Beauty: Creation of a Beautiful Self, by Ellen Sinkman, LCSW, addresses the vital importance of beauty, its sources, and manifestations in everyone's livesincluding psychotherapy patients. The ability to be mesmerizingly beautiful and beautifully creative, strivings toward mastering beauty, and wishes to be transformed are universal desires. During psychotherapy, patients manifest or defend against these forces. So it is striking that patients as well as therapists often overlook or dismiss issues about creating beauty in themselves.The book introduces this seeming contradiction with the ancient myth of Pygmalion and his sculpture of a beautiful woman. These enduring mythic figures represent the wish to emerge as a beautiful being and the wish for the power to create beauty in another. Patients in psychotherapy often pursue these elusive goals outside clinical work, rather than within treatment. Manifo
Trade ReviewThe Psychology of Beauty: Creation of a Beautiful Self is a comprehensive, insightful, and extremely well-integrated exploration of the meanings and uses of beauty both inside and outside the clinical encounter. Ellen Sinkman draws heavily on myth and fable, particularly Ovid’s rendering of the classic myth of Pygmalion, to introduce her central idea of a universal and timeless unconscious wish to be transformed into a beautiful being and have the power to create beauty in another. . . .Ellen Sinkman’s wonderful book is a real pleasure to read. She has produced an exceptionally well-integrated, intellectually lively volume about the compelling yet often overlooked and hence unaddressed meaning of beauty in clinical work. * Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association *
The Psychology of Beauty is a book of substantial practical value. I believe the author goes a long way in highlighting the very important issue of beauty in the treatment setting. As I read, I found myself thinking about different individuals whom I have seen, wondering...how to address such concerns in order to see what emerges. For it is in this way that The Psychology of Beauty does what all good books aimed at analysts and therapists do: it gets us thinking about patients and how to bring to light what seems a frequently overlooked issue in our field. I imagine Sinkman’s book will provide a similar function for others; and I expect that this text will pave the way for us to further consider her questions about why so many individuals whom we treat have been known to distort an ideal of beauty, even as they engage in a neverending quest to attain it. * The Psychoanalytic Quarterly *
"Ellen Sinkman has definitely shown us that ’beauty is not skin deep;’ in fact, in this book we are taken back 50,000 years to look at how Neanderthal man tried to beautify himself- as have all recorded cultures (even wanting their dead bodies to look beautiful for the gods). Using myths, fairytales, and her psychoanalytic work, Sinkman shows how profound the search for beauty is. Whether it relates to some early attachment to the idealized mother or some deep denial of death by striving for perfection, Sinkman shows us why the search for beauty triggers off such intense affects as shame, disgust, envy, and a pathological obsession with aging. When you finish this brilliant, scholarly work you will understand why the obsession with beauty (for men and women alike) has such deep biological and psychological roots. Congratulations to the author on this extraordinary ‘eye-opening’ work." -- Carolyn Ellman Ph.D, New York University
"How useful and beautiful it is to have myths and fairy tales mingled with psychoanalytic case stories to examine the many ways the idea of beauty drives both thinking and behavior. This book mines a rich trove of Western archaeology, literature, and science to come up with a fascinating story of its own. Read it and weep, laugh, learn and enjoy." -- Arlene Kramer Richards Ed.D, Contemporary Freudian Society; Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research
"In The Psychology of Beauty: Creation of a Beautiful Self, Ellen Sinkman has written a book that should be required reading for all students of mental health. Our patients have preoccupations, fantasies, and dreams about beauty that often go unaddressed in treatment. Sinkman takes us on a guided tour of this private land of beauty; the experience unforgettable." -- Elizabeth L. Auchincloss, M.D., Weill Medical College of Cornell University
Table of ContentsChapter 1: Pygmalion and His Living Sculpture Chapter 2: Prehistoric and Literary Eras: Seeking a Beautiful Self Chapter 3: Ordinary Beauty and Timeless Fantasies Chapter 4: Re-birth, Transformation, or Growth: Narcissistic Hurdles in the Quest to Become Beautiful Chapter 5: The Misplaced Therapist: In Search of Pygmalion on and off the Couch Chapter 6: Reaching Farther for a Pygmalion Experience: Artistic Beauty or Pathological Excursions Chapter 7: Perverse Aspects in the Urge to Become Beautiful: Use and Abuse in Pygmalion Dyads Chapter 8: The Intersection of the Biology and Psychology of Beauty Chapter 9: Understanding the Invisibility of Beauty in Clinical Work: Translating the Unseen Chapter 10: Doing Versus Talking in Clinical Work: Cautionary Tales for Working Successfully with Beauty Issues Chapter 11: Creating Beauty: Evolutionary and Cutting Edge Perspectives Chapter 12: Variations on Definitions of Beauty Chapter 13: Beauty, Gender Identity, and Primary Femininity Chapter 14: Origins and Endings of Beauty Bibliography Index
