Psychotherapy Without the Self : A Buddhist Perspective

by Mark Epstein, M.D.

• ISBN13: 9780300123418
• ISBN10: 0300123418
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2007-09-28
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

Immersed in Buddhist psychology prior to studying Western psychiatry, Dr. Mark Epstein first viewed Western therapeutic approaches through the lens of the East. This posed something of a challenge. Although both systems promise liberation through self-awareness, the central tenet of Buddha's wisdom is the notion of no-self, while the central focus of Western psychotherapy is the self. This book, which includes writings from the past twenty-five years, wrestles with the complex relationship between Buddhism and psychotherapy and offers nuanced reflections on therapy, meditation, and psychological and spiritual development. A best-selling author and popular speaker, Epstein has long been at the forefront of the effort to introduce Buddhist psychology to the West. His unique background enables him to serve as a bridge between the two traditions, which he has found to be more compatible than at first thought. Engaging with the teachings of the Buddha as well as those of Freud and Winnicott, he offers a compelling look at desire, anger, and insight and helps reinterpret the Buddha's Four Noble Truths and centralconcepts such as egolessness and emptiness in the psychoanalytic language of our time.

Author Biography

Mark Epstein, M.D., is a psychiatrist in private practice in New York City and clinical assistant professor of psychology at New York University. His previous books include Thoughts without a Thinker, Going to Pieces without Falling Apart, and Open to Desire. 

Table of Contents

Introduction : toward a Buddhist psychotherapy	p. 1
Buddha	p. 13
Meditative transformations of Narcissism (1986)	p. 19
The deconstruction of the self : ego and "egolessness" in Buddhist insight meditation (1988)	p. 42
Forms of emptiness : psychodynamic, meditative and clinical perspectives (1989)	p. 55
Psychodynamics of meditation : pitfalls on the spiritual path (1990)	p. 71
Freud	p. 97
Attention in analysis (1988)	p. 101
Beyond the oceanic feeling : psychoanalytic study of Buddhist meditation (1990)	p. 123
Awakening with Prozac : pharmaceuticals and practice (1993)	p. 140
A Buddhist view of emotional life (1995)	p. 154
Freud and the psychology of mystical experience (1996)	p. 163
Winnicott	p. 177
Sip my ocean : emptiness as inspiration (2004)	p. 179
A strange beauty : Emmanuel Ghent and the psychologies of east and west (2005)	p. 193
The structure of no structure : Winnicott's concept of unintegration and the Buddhist notion of no-self (2006)	p. 211
Meditation as art, art as meditation : thoughts on the relationship of nonintention to the creative process (2006)	p. 228
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