Based on rich clinical experience and on theory from numerous psychoanalytical works, this book explores and analyses the emergence and development of the psychic life. Birth to Psychic Life explores the genesis of the psychic apparatus, reconstructs the development of subjectivity, with its ups and downs in babies as in all subjects, and studies the relationship between mental states at the dawn of psychic life and those characteristic of psychopathology. The book refers to Freudian, Kleinian and post-Kleinian works, proposing articulations between the different theoretical models. The referenced works' contributions to the understanding of early psychic disorders, as well as to the implications of infantile psychic suffering in adulthood, are essential. The authors identify the 3 psychic constellations, recognized by many, that accompany the psychic birth and suggest new more adequate names in view of current works on subjectivity: the auto-sensual position, the symbiotic position and the depressive position. Many other new and original proposals are developed by the authors. Providing tools to think about the processes of psychic growth, this book will be of interest to all psychoanalysts and psychotherapists working with infants and interested in the impact of early psychic development throughout life.

Based on rich clinical experience and on theory from numerous psychoanalytical works, this book explores and analyzes the emergence and development of the psychic life. Birth to Psychic Life explores the genesis of the psychic apparatus, reconstructs the development of subjectivity, with its ups and downs in babies as in all subjects, and studies the relationship between mental states at the dawn of psychic life and those characteristic of psychopathology. The book refers to Freudian, Kleinian and post-Kleinian works, proposing articulations between the different theoretical models. The referenced works’ contributions to the understanding of early psychic disorders, as well as to the implications of infantile psychic suffering in adulthood, are essential. The authors identify the three psychic constellations, recognized by many, that accompany the psychic birth and suggest new more adequate names in view of current works on subjectivity: the auto-sensual position, the symbiotic position and the depressive position. Many other new and original proposals are developed by the authors. Providing tools to think about the processes of psychic growth, this book will be of interest to all psychoanalysts and psychotherapists working with infants and interested in the impact of early psychic development throughout life.

The Christian season of Advent, covering the span of about four weeks prior to Christmas, is rich with religious and psychological significance. In the darkest, shortest days of the year, people turn their thoughts to rebirth and the creation of new light. It is a time for psychic birth guiding us toward wider consciousness and a heightened experience of life. This yearning in human beings goes back to the primal roots of civilization. The prayers and liturgies of the Advent season echo the myths of winter solstice festivals and the ancient desire of people to return to the nurturing chaos of unformed matter. Advent prayers parallel the efforts of alchemists who strove to turn base metal into higher and more noble elements. Advent expresses a fundamental longing for transformation.

Would you like to understand the deeper spiritual meaning of physical illness, parenting handicapped children, drug addiction, alcoholism, the death of a loved one, accidents, deafness, and blindness? Your Soul’s Plan (which was originally published under the title Courageous Souls: Do We Plan Our Life Challenges Before Birth?) explores the premise that we are all eternal souls who plan our lives, including our greatest challenges, before we are born for the purpose of spiritual growth. Through compelling profiles of people who knowingly planned the experiences mentioned above, Your Soul’s Plan shows that suffering is not purposeless, but rather imbued with deep meaning. Working with four gifted mediums, author Robert Schwartz reveals the significance of each person’s life plan and allows us a fascinating look into the “other side.” Each personal story focuses on a specific life challenge, organized by type for easy reference. Accessible both to those familiar with the metaphysical aspects of spirituality and to the general reader, the moving narratives that comprise Your Soul’s Plan help readers awaken to the reality that they are transcendent, eternal souls. With this stirring book as a guide, feelings of anger, resentment, guilt, and victimization are healed and transformed into acceptance, forgiveness, gratitude, and peace. Robert Schwartz is also the author of Your Soul’s Gift: The Healing Power of the Life You Planned Before You Were Born, which explores the pre-birth planning of spiritual awakening, miscarriage, abortion, caregiving, abusive relationships, sexuality, incest, adoption, poverty, suicide, rape, and mental illness. There’s also a chapter about the pre-birth planning we do with our future pets. Robert Schwartz is a hypnotherapist who offers general Spiritual Guidance Sessions, Past Life Soul Regressions, and Between Lives Soul Regressions. Visit Robert online at www.yoursoulsplan.com.

Judith Butler's new book considers the way in which psychic life is generated by the social operation of power, and how that social operation of power is concealed and fortified by the psyche that it produces. It combines social theory, philosophy, and psychoanalysis in novel ways, and offers a more sustained analysis of the theory of subject formation implicit in her previous books.

This fascinating exploration of pre-birth consciousness—with over 200 real-life case studies—reveals we do make decisions about the families and circumstances into which we’re born. An affirming and inspirational read for parents and grandparents, regression therapists and spiritual counselors, and anyone interested in near-death experiences. Where was your soul before you were born? If your soul is immortal, did it have a “life” prior to birth? Did you choose your life and parents? Is reincarnation real? Elizabeth and Neil Carman, the authors of Cosmic Cradle, address these questions through interviews with adults and children who report pre-birth experiences (PBEs) not based on regression, hypnosis, or drugs. Instead, interviewees recall their pre-birth existence completely sober and awake. In contrast to near-death experiences (NDEs), which have been well documented to show us what the soul experiences after death, PBEs throw light upon our lives before birth. People with NDEs sense that they “return home” when their spirits cross to the other side. What is the nature of this place we “return” to? PBEs suggest that we come from the same place we return to: we come from the Light and return to the Light. The same eternal "you" progresses through life before life, human life, and life after death. This new edition of Cosmic Cradle explores your soul’s journey into your mother’s womb—where your soul comes from, the origin and purpose of your life, and the process by which you entered an earthly body. In pre-birth communications, parents meet a soul seeking to cross over from the heavenly realm to human birth. Persons with pre-birth memories recall existence in a luminous world before birth, in which they preview the upcoming life with a Divine Planner, and recall how they journeyed to their mothers’ wombs.