About the Book
Identities in Transition is a book about the growth and development of a multicultural therapist/analyst. Hailing from all around the world (Argentina, England, Egypt, India, Israel, Iran, Lebanon, New Zealand, Mexico, Nigeria, Puerto Rico, Poland), the contributing therapists share their personal stories of clinical minds at work. The factors that inform them are varied and diverse, shaped by their histories of immigration and professional training. Insightful and thought provoking, their explorations capture the struggles, the dilemmas and the skillful integration of various parts of themselves, that finds expression in clinical encounters and analytic settings. Their sensitive reflections upon the salient features of their didactics, supervision and personal analyses, provides a blue print for an adaptive and assimilative process at work. The nuanced impact of immigration, of diversity of culture, of thought and conduct and the integrative process is highlighted. In the process these clinicians develop a 'voice' as unique as their past, informed by thoughtful reflections of their training and the assimilative process. Embracing multiculturalism, this book provides hope and possibilities for both young and old clinicians. In a world that is culturally diverse and complex, it signals a new era of thoughtful insight, self-revelation and contemplative integration.
Table of Contents:
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABOUT THE EDITOR AND CONTRIBUTORS FOREWORD by Stuart W. TwemlowPREFACE CHAPTER ONE The confluence of cultures: an Iranian-American story - Kamelia AlaviCHAPTER TWO Lost luggage: analytic training as search for objects lost in migration - Salomon BankierCHAPTER THREE A tale of two cities - Amar GhorpadeCHAPTER FOUR Navigating our cultural identifications: individual, social, and political struggle in the therapy room - Fatima El-JamilCHAPTER FIVE De donde eres? Finding a 'from' in psychoanalysis - Norka T. MalbergCHAPTER SIX A wound of no return: in search of self, loss, and transformation - Monisha Nayar-AkhtarCHAPTER SEVEN A demand for training - Marco PosadasCHAPTER EIGHT Stolen freedom - Deborah A. ReevesCHAPTER NINE Crossing the border within: migration, transience, and analytic identity - Gabriel RuizCHAPTER TEN The unmatched twin: enactments of otherness and the autobiography of an immigrant clinician - Lara SheehiCHAPTER ELEVEN Conclusion: change is us - M. Hossein EtezadyINDEX
About the Author :
Monisha Nayar-Akhtar obtained her Masters and PhD in clinical psychology from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Later, she trained at the Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute in adult and child/adolescent analysis. Since 2007 she has been practicing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as an adult and child/adolescent psychoanalyst. She is also on the faculty of the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia. Dr Nayar-Akhtar has a keen interest in applying psychoanalytic principles to community issues and promoting psychoanalytic thinking in India, her country of origin. Dr Akhtar has presented and published widely in the area of trauma, cultural issues, attachment and impact of the Internet on adolescent development. She has also edited a book titled 'Play and Playfulness: Developmental, Cultural and Clinical Aspects,' and is the Guest Editor for an issue of the 'Psychoanalytic Inquiry' titled 'Working with children in alternative Care settings.' Dr Nayar-Akhtar is a Training and Supervising analyst and lives in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania with her dog, Majnun.
Review :
'In Identities in Transition, the authors contend with the crucial need for clinicians to be able to consolidate their identities sufficiently to support the developmental needs of the person in treatment. In this era of increasing globalization, the need to recognize and respect both commonalities and differences is vital. Using the lens of immigration affords an important vantage point from which to consider ways in which cultural identifications affect identity development and the therapeutic process. This volume is a must-read for all those attempting to do the complicated work of insightoriented psychotherapy, in which one must be sufficiently familiar with oneself - through both internal and external vantage points - to be able to attain an in-depth understanding of the other.'- Marilyn Charles, the Austen Riggs Center; contributing Editor, Psychoanalysis, Culture and Society 'Considering psychoanalysis has historically focused on the human experience of "otherness," through symptoms, social isolation, and emotional disconnection, it is striking how diversity and multicultural issues have occupied so little space in our field. Monisha Nayar-Akhtar and her collaborators succeed in filling that space. Identities in Transition speaks, in a most compelling way, of the experience of the multicultural therapist and the impact on personal and professional development and identification. But, these authors go further. Their stories, often painful, and subsequent analytic work, have not only transformed them, but more importantly, are transforming our field. This is essential reading for any therapist serious about practicing effectively in today's multicultural world.'- Mark D. Smaller, PhD, President, American Psychoanalytic Association
