Transforming Lives

People's lives can be dramatically transformed by psychoanalysis. Yet the decision to undertake this enterprise can seem so formidable that many deny themselves an extraordinary experience. This book makes that decision - admittedly a complex one - better informed, clearer, and easier. It provides seven detailed case reports, easy to read and free of technical jargon, in which the patients' lives -in their own judgements - were transformed. This is not meant to imply that psychoanalysis always or even usually yields transformative results. These case studies are intriguing in their own right and help the reader think knowledgeably about psychoanalysis and assess its potential as a life-changing enterprise.

People's lives can be dramatically transformed by psychoanalysis. Yet the decision to undertake this enterprise can seem so formidable that many deny themselves an extraordinary experience. This book makes that decision—admittedly a complex one—better informed, clearer, and easier. It provides seven detailed case reports, easy to read and free of technical jargon, in which the patients' lives—in their own judgements—were transformed. This is not meant to imply that psychoanalysis always or even usually yields transformative results. These case studies are intriguing in their own right and help the reader think knowledgeably about psychoanalysis and assess its potential as a life-changing enterprise.

Joseph Schachter was trained as a clinical psychologist in the Department of Social Relations at Harvard University, obtained his medical degree from New York University-Bellevue Medical School, and received his psychoanalytic training at the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research. In mid-career he spent a number of years in full-time physiological/developmental research with infants and children. He subsequently returned to psychoanalytic practice and was a training and supervising analyst at the Pittsburgh Psychoanalytic Institute. Recently retired, Dr. Schachter now resides in New York City.