About the Book
Psychological and psychotherapeutic orientations often neglect the notion that the individual is not one unit, but rather a coalition of affects. Providing a multidisciplinary framework for the practice of psychotherapy and philosophy, this book explores and embraces this multiplicity within the human psyche and challenges the reader to explore and celebrate difference within society.
Chapters reframe the breadth and scope of psychotherapy as an endeavour at the service of both healing and care, while also fostering bold exploration, emphasizing the risk and adventure of being alive. Through clinical studies, first-person accounts, forays into contemporary philosophy, psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, and the arts, this book presents insights that inspire readers to be in the world with courage, compassion, and kindness, with the sense that we do not have to know who we are before becoming active citizens of the world. Bazzano then extends that exploration to the domain of public life by examining contemporary challenges related to climate change, race, gender, ethnicity, and more.
This book is an essential read for therapy practitioners and professionals of related disciplines, who want to expand their knowledge and find different ways to understand and practise their art.
Table of Contents:
Introduction 1. Perversifications 2. On Transindividuation 3. The Everyday Uncanny 4. No Hope, No Fear 5. A Phenomenology of Difference 6. On Ascetic Sadism 7. In Praise of Pandemonium 8. On Necroliberalism 9. Dreaming of God’s Felt Sense 10. Legitimate Strangeness 11. Against Integration 12. The Unbearable Nearness of Utopia 13. Bringing the Plague 14. Someone Else, Someone Good 15. Wayward Angel
About the Author :
Manu Bazzano, PhD, is a writer, psychotherapist, Zen priest, and Butoh dancer. He is a visiting lecturer at Cambridge University and Goldsmiths College, London and founder of Affect Therapy.
Review :
“This excellent book, the fruit of vast learning and passionate commitment, celebrates our complexities, our multiplicity, desiring and acting. The chapter on Fanon and Existential Phenomenology is a good example of how this book engages with important and timely issues. As well as Fanon, this book calls on feminist perspective, on the civil rights and postcolonial movements, as well as LGBTQIA+ movements. How could anyone with an interest in psychology, psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, philosophy, critical theory and the political context in which we live not find this book compelling and rewarding?”
Dr Onel Brooks, psychoanalytic psychotherapist, existential-analytic psychotherapist
“The shock that his last book Subversion and Desire produced was not enough for Manu Bazzano. He is coming back with a new book, even more radically opposed to the psychotherapy orthodoxies. Its polyphonic language, its openings to philosophy, literature, and the Arts make the reading of the book instructive and exegetic a source of great jouissance. It establishes the author as first among equals with his distinguished colleagues in Queer studies and the Queering of psychoanalysis. This is a book that teaches us how not to betray our Desire.”
Chloe Kolyri, queer psychoanalyst, lecturer and author with degrees in Medicine, Psychiatry, and Neurophysiology. A founding member of the Greek anti-psychiatry movement, as well as of the collective on Deleuze-Guattari studies, she has published on queer-gender, Deleuze, and psychoanalysis
“Few writers and therapists are capable of fearless critique, sharp socio-cultural observation and seeing below the surface of an argument or opinion. In this book, Bazzano demonstrates this rare ability. Reading it leads me to question what I thought I knew or understood about the art and craft of therapy. I felt shaken out of complacency, unsettled, challenged and stretched. In charting this complex territory, Bazzano has contributed to my development as a therapist. This book instils greater openness and curiosity, providing a key ingredient of compassion.”
Dr Rachel Freeth, therapist, trainer, author of several books including Psychiatry and Mental Health: A Guide for Counsellors and Psychotherapists (2020)
“I’m convinced that Manu Bazzano is the best critical writer in the whole therapy world at this time.”
Richard House, former therapist and former university lecturer in psychology, psychotherapy and education. He was editor of Self & Society. His latest book is Pushing Back to Ofsted, (2020)
“Manu Bazzano is by far the most empathetic and insightful therapist I have ever encountered. His outstanding intellect and deep compassion mark him out as exceptional within his field.”
Tim Lott, award winning novelist and columnist
“There are so many 'butoh' people out there, of questionable quality. Manu Bazzano is a performer who is not replicating the 'moth-eaten' tropes of Butoh but has found his own way.”
Marie-Gabrielle Rotie, internationally renowned Butoh artist and teacher, senior lecturer at Goldsmiths College, London, and founder/producer of ButohUK
“Bazzano’s writing reminds me of Thomas Browne, the seventeenth century polymath – similar preoccupations, a wide range of interests, deep curiosity and learning in the alignment and conflict of science, religion and myth.”
Paul Mayersberg, writer of many screenplays including Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, Croupier, and The Man who Fell to Earth
