A soft-spoken student who was once a violent hit man, an elderly man tormented by memories of wartime imprisonment, a fortune-teller who finds his therapist inscrutable, a woman who can’t get satisfaction from her mother or her therapist . . . These are just a few of the intriguing patients treated by Gerald Amada during nearly forty years of practice as a psychotherapist. From the ridiculous to the tragic, the tales of Amada’s treatment of unusual patients are fascinating, disturbing, and utterly engrossing. Amada not only lets us peek into his office but also leads us into the hearts and minds of his patients and himself.

In The Mystified Fortune-Teller and Other Tales from Psychotherapy, Gerald Amada provides a unique, behind-the-scenes look at the relationship between therapist and patient. In a fascinating series of vignettes, readers are taken into Amada's confidence as he describes his perception of his clients, their therapy, and the difficulties, as well as solutions, encountered in psychotherapeutic practice. As a practicing therapist for almost forty years, Gerald Amada has earned the respect and admiration of his peers in the counseling field. This book belongs on the shelves of practicing therapists as well as anyone interested in the process of psychotherapy. "These are wonderfully told tales of a listener, knowing and wise observer, and healer -- they are stories that get to the heart of what it is that happens in psychotherapy." Robert Coles, Harvard University

Although society encourages us to deny and repress such negative emotions as rage and resentment, psychiatrists know that such denial can lead to a variety of psychological, physical, and social problems. In this bold book, Gerald Amada reveals how our forbidden emotions, if properly understood and accepted, can actually be transformed into behavior that is both personally fulfilling and socially constructive.