This highly innovative new book reconsiders the structure of basic emotions, the self and the mind. It clinically covers mental disorders, therapeutic interventions, defense mechanisms, consciousness and personality and results in a comprehensive discussion of human responses to the environmental crisis.

For openers, a novel psychodynamic model of happiness, sadness, fear and anger is presented that captures their object relational features. It offers a look through the eyes of these specific emotions and delineates how they influence the interaction with other persons. As regulation of the emotional state is the core task of the self, dysregulation can lead to mental disorders. Clinical cases of post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder and depression are discussed, using the model to outline the emotional turbulence underneath. Finally, the elaborated theory is used to analyse personal responses to the environmental crisis and political strategies that capitalise on them.

This book will appeal to scholars, psychotherapists and psychiatrists with an interest in emotions and who wish to challenge their own implicit theory of emotion with an explicit new model. It will also be of interest for academic researchers and professionals in fields where emotional processes play a pivotal role.

About the Author

Daniel Helderman has a background in therapeutic work as a clinical psychologist, psychotherapist and psychoanalyst. He teaches psychoanalytic theory at RINO Utrecht and RINO Amsterdam as well as supervising healthcare psychologists in the Royal Netherlands Army and speaking professionally on emotion-related issues. His ambition is to use psychodynamic insight to amplify environmental awareness and (inter)action.

Reviews

"We work above all with feelings, so it is remarkable how undeveloped Freud's theory of emotion was. This book integrates everything we have learnt in the intervening century, in a new theory that clinicians will find immediately useful and practical." - Prof. Mark Solms, neuropsychologist and psychoanalyst; author of The Hidden Spring: A journey to the source of consciousness

"Living near a river, my parents told me to keep away from the maelstrom. I, however, invite you to dive into Daniel Helderman's Maelstrom model of basic emotions. He stirs up familiar psychodynamic concepts and connects them with contemporary insights into personality, mind, and consciousness. This book is a stimulating read and might challenge you to reconsider your way of working with emotions and the self." - Prof. Frans Schalkwijk, psychoanalyst; author of The Conscience and Self-Conscious Emotions in Adolescence: An integrative approach

"The [Maelstrom] model is an attempt to bring order out of what may feel like chaos for both patient and clinician, most especially in the here-and-now of a session. The intention is that potentially overwhelming experience may be thought about so that the therapeutic couple can gather fragmented parts of emotions, then make meaning together. This enables the clinician to mentalise and discern patterns. Thus, the model is offered as a template to bring calm out of a storm." - Jennie Hogan, in Psychodynamic Practice: Individuals, groups and organisations

Book Information
ISBN 9780367191665
Author Daniel Helderman
Format Paperback
Page Count 160
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 320g