Being of Two Minds: The Vertical Split in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy

Chronic obstructive airways disease (COAD: bronchitis, emphysema and chronic asthma) is a major medical, psychological, social and economic problem. Breathlessness is one of the most distressing and disabling symptoms of COAD, and it has long been apparent that the condition results in impaired quality of life. Drawing upon sociological and psychological sources, and his own detailed research in this area, Simon Williams sesitively portrays the meaning, experience and impact of COAD. Sufferers' and their families' own accounts are used to portray the various stages and aspects of COAD, ranging from the experience of symptoms and the management of medical regimens, to the practical problems it creates in daily life and the more diffuse and intangible ways in which it impinges on social and family life. He also provides a comprehensive review of the psychosocial literature and concludes by discussing some of the policy implications for health care professionals.

Table of Contents:
Part I: The Split. Introductory Remarks.The Problem. The Failure of Synthesis: The Phenomenology of the Vertical Split. Collusion and Its Place in the Vertical Split. Psychoanalytic Developmental Considerations. Part II: Treatment and the Vertical Split. Introduction. Commitment and Boundaries. Infidelity: A Prototypical Vertical Split. Specific Treatment Issues and the Vertical Split.Varieties of the Split. Between Empathy and Judgment. Trying on Another Mind.

About the Author :
Arnold I. Goldberg

Review :
"Goldberg has once again produced a well-written book of great practical interest and centering on specific clinical problems and case vignettes that nicely illustrate both his point of view and his actual therapeutic practice. I not only highly recommend this book; I consider it mandatory reading for anyone engaging in psychotherapeutic work on a day-to-day basis." - Richard D. Chessick, M.D., Ph.D. "In this treatise on the origins, development, and functions of the vertical split in health and illness, Goldberg does for disavowal what Freud did for repression. Being of Two Minds achieves a decisive advance in self psychology and is evidence of Goldberg's enormous erudition, prodigious reading across a variety of disciplines, and unusual capacity for seamless integration of widely differing sources of knowledge in a quintessentially psychoanalytic manner. This book is destined to become a classic." - Paul Ornstein, M.D., Professor of Psychoanalysis, University of Cincinnati "Arnold Goldberg's new book should be required reading for anyone seeking to understand character disturbances. He convincingly illuminates and illustrates the value of the concept of 'vertical split' for psychoanalytically based treatment. Goldberg writes with such clarity and clinical acumen that the reader can readily apply his ideas to clinical practice." - Amy Eldridge, Ph.D., Institute for Clinical Social Work, Chicago "This is a deceptively unassuming book, rare in our field, from an analyst who knows his material so well that he can present it in the clearest of terms. In his effort to elucidate a central tenet in the self-psychological literature, the vertical split, Arnold Goldberg demonstrates, once again, that he is one of our most effective teachers, putting the concept of the split into every terms, illustrating it with succinct clinical problems, and repeating his observations in a variety of contexts ... we can ask no more of a master teacher than that, by the end of the course, we find ourselves thinking as he does and so can begin to test out his hypotheses for ourselves. This book will do that for you. It is a remarkable accomplishment." - Henry F. Smith, International Journal of Psychoanalysis "In the summary at the end of this splendid volume, Goldberg explains that this is an old-fashioned book. Indeed it is: clear, explicit prose, jargon-free, rich in clinical examples, and drawing on a profound history of psychoanalysis without invoking the latest and most fashionable views in the field. As the title implies, the bulk of the book concerns itself with the vertical split, but it also presents many other observations about psychoanalytic process, technique, and values... Its contents, along with the many rich side 'essays,' provide a freshness of thinking combined with a remarkable knowledge of classical psychoanalytic thinking." - Harold R. Galef, Psychoanalytic Quarterly