We are very excited to announce our latest initiative – the publication of our concise, comprehensive and eminently readable books by two of the leading figures in the field of psychotherapy. We are proud to have on our bookshelves, Dr Gwen Adshead’s The Deluded Self: Narcissism and Its Disorders and Dr Jan McGregor Hepburn’s Guilt and Shame: A Clinician’s Guide.
It has been heartening to see your exceedingly positive response to these books – they literally are flying off the shelves! A heartfelt thank you for your positive enthusiasm and support for this initiative!
Our first book The Deluded Self: Narcissism and Its Disorders, published last year, is written by Dr Gwen Adshead. This book is a distillation of Dr. Adshead’s many years of work in the fields of psychiatry and psychotherapy working extensively with the issues around the whole concept of narcissism. Commencing her work by looking at the roots of this issue (The Narcissus Myth), through the whole continuum from healthy to pathological, she uses research, theory and her own extensive clinical experience to delineate and disentangle some of the apparent conundrums of both the cultural and the internal contexts of the topic.
Dr. Adshead discusses relevant issues such as the causes and origins of unhealthy narcissism in general and narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) in particular, how common NPD is and whether there is a link between NPD and Psychopathy. Finally, she considers clinical work with people who suffer from the extremes of narcissism; finishing with thoughts about the challenges for the clinician in this process.
Dr. Adshead is an international figure in her field and has generously shared her overview and understanding of narcissism in this accessible book. It is clear, lively and most of all open and honest about the difficulties and challenges faced by practitioners working clinically in this area, the suffers themselves, and the people around them. It will be of interest to all those working therapeutically.
Our second book Guilt and Shame, A Clinician’s Guide by Dr Jan McGregor Hepburnhas just been published. Using her theoretical knowledge and her long clinical experience, Dr McGregor Hepburn examines the interlinked, multi-layered concepts of Guilt and Shame – from their healthy forms to their pathological and persecutory manifestations.
Using clinical examples to illustrate the points throughout, the first few chapters cover the differences between Guilt and Shame and examine their various internal functions. The middle chapters look at clinical issues: how struggles with Guilt and Shame may be manifest, how the clinician experiences them and which specific clinical techniques might be of help. The book explores the more complex nuances of working with these issues and the dilemmas that the clinicians face including Features of Countertransference, Projective Identification, Failure of Attunement and Transmitted Guilt and Shame. The penultimate chapter before the Conclusion looks at some of the social contexts of Guilt and Shame as both these concepts are intersubjective and co-constructed experiences, so the external context has significant impact on these two internal processes. This is a refreshing and accessible guide which will be of interest to a wide spectrum of clinicians.