New from IPBooks: Kindred Arts: Biographic Writing & Psychodynamic Therapy, Complexities & Complications by Esther Urdang

ClicK Here to Purchase: Kindred Arts: Biographic Writing And Psychodynamic Therapy, Complexities And Complications by Esther Urdang from IPBooks

Click Here to Purchase:  Kindle eBook now available on Amazon!

A Review of the 2014 Edition of this Book by William S. Meyer, MSW, BCD:

You have never read a book like this before.
While you’ve certainly read clinical books and biographies—and maybe even books about biographies—I feel certain that you’ve not read a book that brings to your attention the considerable overlap between these two endeavors.
. . . Urdang, a clinical social worker who has practiced in agencies, in hospitals, and privately, demonstrates her scholarship in both the literary and clinical worlds. As she admits . . .,  “I am a clinical social worker and social work educator. I am also hopelessly addicted to biographical writings”
. . . . In bridging these two fields, [she] reminds us of the importance of biographical study . . . as a counterweight to current trends . . . that favor evidence-based, quantitative measures, at the expense of exploring the past, developing empathy, and understanding experiential worlds . . . Continue reading New from IPBooks: Kindred Arts: Biographic Writing & Psychodynamic Therapy, Complexities & Complications by Esther Urdang

JOSHUA A. HOFFS, M.D.  (1933-2024)

JOSHUA A. HOFFS, M.D.  (1933-2024)
By David James Fisher, Ph.D.

Joshua Hoffs, M.D.  passed away peacefully at home on Sunday August 4th surrounded by loving family, friends, and colleagues.  His death is a significant loss to the psychoanalytic community.  As a clincian, he was supportive, kind, insightful, and consistently non-judgmental.  Being able to bracket out judgment, Josh functioned as an open-minded and caring analyst, who was available to guide his patients toward fulfillment in their relationships, work, and attitudes about themselves.  He did not hesitate to educate and inform as well as deal with unconscious dynamics.  Many younger members of the New Center for Psychoanalysis sought out his counsel and his encouragement.  His clinical approach emphasized reality-testing and being realistic; he could also be pragmatic when it was appropriate.  An anti-authoritarian, he opposed the bureaucratization of Continue reading JOSHUA A. HOFFS, M.D.  (1933-2024)

Poetry Monday: August 2, 2024

Good Morning, Everyone,
I
Good morning, everyone, In keeping with our plan of re-visiting poets and their work that have been especially popular with our readers, we are again featuring Alicia Ostriker.Her wise, beautiful poems help women understand themselves better and men understand women in a way they never did before.

The poem below: “Blessing of The Old Woman, the Tulip and the Dog” appears in her book, “The Book of Seventy”:

To be blessed
said the old woman
is to live and work
so hard
God’s love
washes right through you
like milk through a cow.

To be blessed
said the dark red tulip
is to knock their eyes out
with the slug of lust
implied by
your up-ended
skirt.

To be blessed
said the dog
is to have a pinch
of God
inside you
and all the other dogs
can smell it.

This was my first introduction to these three characters who may not be talking to each other at all but rather addressing the audience in a series of down-to-earth dramatic asides.  We can almost see them on stage, casting an occasional sly look or even a wink at one or both of their companions.

So, as waiters say in restaurants before setting out a delicious feast,”Enjoy”

Irene Willis
Poetry Editor

Continue reading Poetry Monday: August 2, 2024

Extremely rare—and sacred—white buffalo calf born in Yellowstone

Click Here to Read: Extremely rare—and sacred—white buffalo calf born in Yellowstone: “There are prophecies about white buffalo calves being born at a time of great change,” says one expert. How rare are white bison—and what does this birth mean? By Jason Bittel on the National Geographic website on June 13, 2024.

White Bison Image: eileenmak  Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons