Mark and Giulia's life together began as a storybook romance. They fell in love at eighteen, married at twenty-four, and were living their dream life in San Francisco. When Giulia was twenty-seven, she suffered a terrifying and unexpected psychotic break that landed her in the psych ward for nearly a month. One day she was vibrant and well-adjusted; the next she was delusional and suicidal, convinced that she was the devil and that her loved ones were not safe. All she wanted was to die. Eventually, Giulia fully recovered, and the couple had a son. But, soon after Jonas was born, Giulia had another breakdown, and then a third a few years after that. pushed to the edge of the abyss, everything the couple had once taken for granted was upended. A story of the fragility of the mind, and the tenacity of the human spirit, My Lovely Wife is, above all, a love story that raises profound questions: How do we care for the people we love? What and who do we live for? Breathtaking in its candor, radiant with compassion, and written with dazzling lyricism, Lukach's is an intensely personal odyssey through the harrowing years of his wife's mental illness, anchored by an abiding devotion to family that will affirm readers' faith in the power of love.

This innovative book describes the original essence particular to the human species and details the steps necessary to help re-establish this essence, in cases when it has deteriorated, in a therapeutic group context of solidarity and closeness. Disappointment in primary relationships particularly triggers the deterioration of self-offering, an initially expansive and trusting disposition to affectivity and love. People suffer when, like any fragile and delicate living being early in life, they fail to evolve according to the nature of their species. Therapeutic work is therefore described as mainly oriented to reactivate in a group, a new welcoming family, the original natural drives with new permissions, new trials and new joyful experiences. The book contains the methods and techniques routinely used by the author and two case studies, faithfully transcribed and commented on, particularly for the reactivation of the affective drive. Revitatlization Through Transactional Analysis Group Treatment is an insightful addition to the literature for transactional analysts in practice and in training, for professionals interested in the theory and practice of transactional analysis. Piccinino writes in a compelling manner allowing for the content to be accessible to anyone seeking to understand human processes and wellbeing.

A New York Times Notable Book An Economist Best Book of the Year Esther Akello is one of thirty Ugandan teenage girls abducted from a Catholic boarding school by rebel bandits. Held captive by the Lord’s Resistance Army, Esther is forced to witness and commit unspeakable atrocities. She struggles to survive, to escape, and to find a way to live with what she has seen and done. Jane Wood is a sensual, idealistic American writer who is traveling across Africa, hoping to give a voice to young people like Esther and to find her own center. In unflinching prose, Minot interweaves the stories of these two astonishing young women who, as they confront displacement and heartbreak, are hurtled inexorably closer to one another. With mesmerizing emotional intensity and stunning evocations of Africa’s struggles and beauty, Susan Minot gives us her most brilliant novel yet.

Field Theory is a powerful and growing paradigm within psychoanalysis, but has previously been split between various schools of thought with little overlap. In this book, a distinguished group of contributors from across all perspectives on Field Theory examine its uniting factors and set out future developments and directions for the paradigm within psychoanalysis. Advances in Contemporary Psychoanalytic Field Theory represents the work developed for the first international meeting of the International Field Theory Association. Founded in 2015 to offer a community for those interested in psychoanalytic field theory and promote its understanding and further development, IFTA recognizes all models of psychoanalytic field theory and seeks to foster communication amongst psychoanalysts working in different models, languages and parts of the world. At the first ever meeting of IFTA, an international group of psychoanalysts participated in a roundtable discussion of the different contemporary models of psychoanalytic field theory. Each participant wrote a paper in advance of the meeting, which were all shared among the group beforehand and then discussed together. These feature as the chapters in this volume, whilst a thirteenth member offers a unifying overview of all the papers. Each chapter provides new, contemporary ways of approaching field theory. Key excerpts from the discussion of the meeting are also featured throughout to give a flavour of the collaborative efforts of the participants. The emphasis of this book is on generating mutual understanding of the different models of field theory, their underlying concepts, and heuristic principles. Drawing on insights from literature, critical theory and philosophy as well as psychoanalysis, this book sets out a program for the future of Field Theory. Advances in Contemporary Psychoanalytic Field Theory will appeal to psychoanalysts and mental health care practitioners as well as academicians in philosophy, psychology and literature.

Described by the author as a Renaissance soap opera, Immortali is a late sixteenth-century feast of pleasure and pain, exploring mysticism and heresy, tensions and jealousies, illusion and reality, smouldering passion, and murderous intrigue in Tuscany and Venice. This is an emotionally familiar debut novel, strangely exotic and heady as a Venetian perfume. Colourful actors with familiar names and the evil machinations of a masked villain drive the relentless action. The book brims with vivid scenes and an expert knowledge of the period, yet it is also a novel for today, a coming-of-age in an exciting era in which a young girl s longing for love and fame is the timeless theme. Made pregnant by rape and forced to flee her home, spoiled little rich girl, Giulia, finds life with the travelling actors harsh. But perhaps there s more to them than she realized. Can the charismatic Arlecchino, whom she adores in spite of his brutal treatment of her, really walk on air and step from one world to another? In pursuit of her dream to become the Immortali s leading lady, Giulia is drawn into the darkest supernatural peril. The flames of the Inquisition are stoked in readiness and only a miracle can save her.