Synopses & Reviews
In 1976, Jean Baker Miller published Toward a New Psychology of Women, a feminist classic that went on to sell more than 200,000 copies. The Healing Connection builds on the theoretical insights of Toward a New Psychology of Women to show how women's experiences in relationships -- whether with family members, friends and colleagues, or therapists -- shape psychological health.
Miller and Stiver analyze the subtle process of empathetic listening and responding that takes place in day-to-day relationships and show convincingly how such moments of "connection" lead to psychological growth. They argue that repeated experiences of "disconnection", or the failure of empathy in relationships, cause most psychological problems, including anxiety, isolation, and depression.
Through vivid examples drawn from their own practice as therapists, Miller and Stiver show how women can learn to experience real connection and to overcome psychological problems. They outline a new kind of psychotherapy in which the therapist is not a neutral figure but a participant with emotional responses of her own.
Certain to become a landmark book in women's psychology, The Healing Connection offers new understanding and hope for women seeking profound changes in their lives.
Synopsis
In The Healing Connection, Jean Baker Miller, M.D., author of the best-selling Toward a New Psychology of Women, and Irene Stiver, Ph.D., argue that relationships are the integral source of psychological health. In so doing they offer a new understanding of human development that points a way to change in all of our institutions-work, community, school, and family-and is sure to transform lives.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [223]-225) and index.
About the Author
Jean Baker Miller, M.D., is clinical professor of psychiatry at the Boston University School of Medicine and founding director of the Jean Beaker Miller Training Institute, a division of the Stone Center at Wellesley College.
Irene Pierce Stiver, Ph.D., is director emerita of the psychology department at McLean Hospital, lecturer in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and a founding scholar of the Jean Baker Miller Training Institute.