Excerpts from "Must Read" Books & Articles on Mental Health Topics

Chemical Dependency:
Addiction As An Attachment Disorder- Philip Flores (Jason Aronson, 2004) 344 pages.
Drinking: A Love Story- Caroline Knapp (Dell Publishing, 1997) 286 pages.
Drinking Games- Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker, 2/15/2010   Click here for excerpt
Group Psychotherapy with Addicted Populations- Philip Flores (Haworth Press, 1997, 2nd Ed.) 650 pages.
Me and My Girls- David Carr, New York Times Magazine, 7/20/2008   Click here for excerpt
Not God: A History of Alcoholics Anonymous- Ernest Kurtz (Hazeldon Press, 1984) 436 pages.
The Recovery Book- Al J. Mooney, et al. (Workman Publishing, 1992) 581 pages.
The Secret of AA: After 75 Years, We Do Not Know How It Works- Brendan I. Koerner, Wired July 2010   Click here for excerpt
Terry: My Daughter's Life & Death Struggle with Alcoholism- George McGovern (Plume Books, 1996) 198 pages.
The History of Alcoholic Anonymous- Oliver Clark (An internet edition with invaluable audio recordings) www.rehab4addiction.co.uk/aa-history
Two Stories- E.B. O'Reilly. In Sobering Tales: Narratives of Alcoholism and Recovery (1997).


General Psychotherapy:
Behind the One-Way Mirror: Psychotherapy & Children- Katharine Davis Fishman (Dell Publications, 1996).
Change: Principles of Problem Formation & Resolution- Paul Watzalawick, et al. (W.W. Norton, 1974) 168 pages.
The Children of Psychiatrists- Thomas Maeder (Harper & Row, 1989) 295 pages.
The Empty Couch: What is Lost When Psychiatry Turns to Drugs?- Joan Acocella, The New Yorker, 5/8/2000   Click here for excerpt
The Evocative Power of Enactments- Judith Fingert Chused, Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Society, 39 (1991).
The Limits of Talk- Mary Sykes Wylie, The Psychotherapy Networker, January/February 2004    Click here for excerpt
Mortal Gifts: An Essay on the Therapist's Mortality- Ellen Pinsky, Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis, 30(2), 173-204.
The Family Crucible - Agustus Y. Napier & Carl A. Whitaker (Harper & Rowe, 1980) 305 Pages.
Family Therapy Techniques- S. Minuchin & H. Fishman (Harvard University Press, 1982) 290 pages.
Focusing- Eugene T. Gendlin (Bantam Books, 1978) 202 pages
Gestalt Therapy Verbatim- Frederick Perls (Gestalt Journal Press, 1969) 279 pages.
Key Concepts in Psychotherapy- Erwin Singer (Basic Books, 1970) 392 pages.
Listening to Prozac- Peter Kramer (The Penquin Group, 1993) 313 pages.
Mastering Family Therapy- Salvadore Minuchin (John Wiley & Sons, 1996) 272 pages.
Of Two Minds: An Anthropologist Looks at American Psychiatry- T.M. Luhrmann (Random House, 2001) 330 pages.
Pragmatics of Human Communication- Paul Watzlawick, et al. (W.W. Norton & Co., 1967) 294 pages.
Psychiatric Interviewing: The Art of Understanding- Shawn Christopher Shea, M.D. (W.B. Sanders Co., 1998, 2nd. ed.) 758 pages.
The Theory & Practice of Group Psychotherapy- Irvin Yalom (Basic Books, 1995) 532 pages.
Why Not Long-Term Therapy?- Jay Haley.  Brief Therapy: Myths, Methods & Metaphors (Brunner-Routledge, 1990), Jeffrey Zeig & Stephen Gilligan, Editors. 


Major Mental Illness:
A Beautiful Mind- Sylvia Nasar (Simon & Schuster, 1998), 461 pages.
Against Depression- Peter D. Kramer (Viking, 2005), 353 pages.
A Mood Apart- Peter Whybrow (Basic Books, 1997) 340 pages.
Anatomy of Melancholy- Andrew Solomon, The New Yorker, 1/12/1998.     Click here for excerpt
The Center Cannot Hold- Elyn R. Saks (Hyperion Books, 2007) 340 pages.
Darkness Visible- William Styron (Random House, 1990) 84 pages.
DBT Challenges the "Borderline" Diagnosis- Katy Butler, The Psychotherapist Networker, May/June 2001     Click here for excerpt
Decoding Schizophrenia- Daniel Javitt & Joseph Coyle, Scientific American, January 2004      Click here for excerpt
Documents- Charles D'Ambrosio, The New Yorker, 6/24/2002     Click here for excerpt
The Doubting Disease- Jerome Groopman, The New Yorker, 1/10/2000.     Click here for excerpt
How I Perceive and Manage My Illness- Esso Leete, Schizophrenia Bulletin, 15 (1989)
I Have a Mental Illness. I Am Also an Alcoholic. I've Done the Best I Can with What I've Got. NAMI Winter 2002 Advocate
Is There Anyplace on Earth for Me?- Susan Sheehan (Random House, 1981) 333 pages.
My Father's Troubles- Nicholas Dawidoff. The New Yorker, 6/12/2000.      Click here for excerpt
The Politics of Hysteria- Joan Acocella.  The New Yorker, 4/6/1998      Click here for excerpt
The Practical Art of Suicide Assessment- Shawn Christopher Shea, M.D. (John Wiley & sons, Inc., 1999) 315 pages.
Shock and Disbelief- Daniel Smith, Atlantic Monthly, February 2001.      Click here for excerpt
Sick With Worry- Jerome Groopman. The New Yorker, 8/11/2003.      Click here for excerpt
Sixteen Pointers To Help A Spouse Live With Mental Illness- Kathy Bayes
The Sleeping Cure- Richard Friedman, New York Times, 3/12/2017      
Twelve Aspects of Coping for Persons with Serious and Persistent Mental Illness- Frederick J. Frese.  Psychological and Social Aspects of Psychiatric Disability (1997), LeRoy Spaniol, Cheryl Gagne & Martin Koehler (Eds.)
Out of Her Mind: Women Writing on Madness- Rebecca Shannonhouse, editor (Random House, 2000) 180 pages.
Psychiatric Diagnosis- Donald W. Goodwin & Samuel B. Guze (Oxford University Press, 1996, 5th ed.), 362 pages.
Surviving Schizophrenia- E. Fuller Torrey (Harper Collins Books, 1985, 3rd Ed.) 392 pages.
An Unquiet Mind- Kay Redfield Jamison (Random House, 1995) 224 pages.
What's Normal?: Bipolar Diagnosis and Children- Jerome Groopman, The New Yorker, 4/9/2007.     Click here for excerpt
The Sleeping Cure- Richard Friedman, The New York Times, 3/12/2017
Depressed Comedian Hospitalized. Hilarity Ensues- Jennifer Senior, The New York Times, 11/17/2019
A Brain Implant Fights Depression- Pam Belluck, The New York Times, 10/21/2021


Miscellany:
The Autism Fight- Susan Sheehan. The New Yorker, 12/01/2003      Click here for excerpt
Becoming Attached: Psychology's Effort to Understand the Power of First Relationships- Robert Karen (Oxford University Press, 1997) 441 pages.
Can a Stressful Childhood Make You a Sick Adult?- Paul Tough, The New Yorker, 3/21/2011.      Click here for excerpt
Can Psychiatry Be a Science? - Louis Menard, The New Yorker, 3/1/2010.   Click here for excerpt
Children of Different Ordinal Positions- George Edington & Bradford Wilson, Basic Handbook of Child Psychiatry (Basic Books, 1979), Volume One, pp. 397-406.
Childhood and Society - Eirck Erickson (W.W. Norton & Company, 1950) 388 pages.
The Denial of Death- Ernest Becker (Free Press, 1973) 320 pages.
Good Grief- Meghan O'Rourke, The New Yorker, 2/1/2010.      Click here for excerpt
The Grief Industry- Jerome Groopman. The New Yorker, 1/26/2004      Click here for excerpt
How Do I Love Thee?- Lori Gottlieb. Atlantic Monthly, March 2006      Click here for excerpt
Intimate Partners: Patterns in Love & Marriage- Maggie Scarf (Balentine Books, 1988) 480 pages.
A Lifetime of Restless Isolation Explained- Tim Page. The New Yorker, 8/20/2007.      Click here for excerpt
Nature Vs. Nuture: An Adoptee's Experience- A.M. Homes. The New Yorker, 12/20/2004      Click here for excerpt
Untying the Knot- Melanie Thernstrom.  The New York Times Magazine, 8/24/2003.     Click here for excerpt
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat- Oliver Sacks (Harper & Row, 1970) 242 pages.
The Scholar- Jeffrey Toobin, The New Yorker, 10/4/2010      Click here for excerpt
Suffering Souls: The Search for the Roots of Psychopathy- John Seabrook. The New Yorker, 11/10/2008      Click here for excerpt
Tuesdays with Morrie- Mitch Albom (Doubleday, 1999) 192 pages.
Virtual Iraq- Sue Halpern, The New Yorker, 5/19/2008       Click here for excerpt


Psychoanalytic Thought:
For the beginning student-     (For a recommended progression of reading, click here.)
Analysis of Transference, Vol. II- Merton Gill (International University Press, 1982) 236 pages.
Analytic Therapy- Sigmund Freud, 1917
An Autobiographical Study- Sigmund Freud, 1925
Constructions in Analysis- Sigmund Freud, 1937
A Difficulty in the Path of Psychoanalysis- Sigmund Freud, 1917
Dream Analysis- Ella Freeman Sharp, 1937
The Discovery of the Unconscious- Henri F. Ellenberger (Basic Books, 1970) 897 pages.
An Elementary Textbook of Psychoanalysis- Charles Brenner (Anchor Books, 1973) 248 pages.
The Evocative Power of Enactments- Judith Fingert Chused, Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Society, 39 (1991).
The Fate of the Ego in Analytic Therapy- Richard Sterba, 1934
Freud: A Life for Our Time- Peter Gay (W.W. Norton & Company, 1988) 810 pages.
A History of Psychoanalysis in Michigan- Murray Meisels, The Michigan Psychoanalytic Council Newsletter, Volume 1, Number 1, Winter 1996.
Man Goes To See a Doctor- Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 8/26/1998.      Click here for excerpt
Mortal Gifts: An Essay on the Therapist's Mortality- Ellen Pinsky, Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis, 30(2), 173-204
Psychoanalytic Case Formulation- Nancy McWilliams (Guilford, 1999) 240 pages.
Recommendations on the Technique of Psychoanalysis - Sigmund Freud, 1913

For the advanced student-
Analysis Terminable and Interminable- Sigmund Freud, 1937
Between the Disclosure & Foreclosure of Erotic Transference-Countertransference- Jody Messler Davies, Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 8(6): 747-766 (1998)
Beyond the Pleasure Principle- Sigmund Freud, 1920
Changes in Psychoanalytic Ideas: Transference Interpretation- Arnold M. Cooper.  Essential Papers on Transference (1990), Aaron H. Esman, Editor.
Character Analysis- Wilhelm Reich, 1933
The Dream Frontier- Mark J. Blechner, 2001
Fantasy, Memory and Reality Testing- Jacob Arlow, 1968
Freud's Case Studies- .pdf files of text from the Standard Edition. (Adobe Reader software required; free download at www.adobe.com)
The Golden Fantasy: A Regressive Reaction to Separation Anxiety- Sydney Smith, International Journal of  Psychoanalysis (1977) 58, 311.
Heinz Kohut: The Making of a Psychoanalyst- Charles Strozier, 2001
Inihibitions, Symptoms & Anxiety- Sigmund Freud, 1926
The Interpretation of Dreams- Sigmund Freud, 1899
Love & Hate in the Analytic Setting- Glenn Gabbard (Jason Aronson, Inc., 1996) 264 pages.
A Meeting of Minds: Mutality in Psychoanalysis- Lewis Aron (The Analytic Press, 1996)
My Experience of Analysis with Fairbairn & Winnicott- Harry Guntrip, International Review of Psychoanalysis, 2 (1975).
The Nature of the Therapeutic Action of Psychoanalysis- James Strachey, International Journal of Psychoanalysis (1934) 15:126-59
Notes on Transference: Universal Phenomenon and the Hardest Part of Analysis- Brian Bird.  Essential Papers on Transference (1990), Aaron H. Esman, Editor.
On Narcissism: An Introduction- Sigmund Freud, 1914
Relationality: From Attachment to Intersubjectivity- Stephen Mitchell (The Analytic Press, 2000) 155 pages.
Ritual and Spontaneity in the Psychoanalytic Process- Irwin Z. Hoffman (The Analytic Press, 1998) 273 pages.
Slouching Towards Bethlehem- Nina Coltart, 2000
"Speak! That I May See You": Some Reflections on Dissociation, Reality and Psychoanalytic Listening- Philip Bromberg, Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 4: 517-547.
The Two Analyses of Mr. Z- Heinz Kohut, International Journal of Psychoanalysis (1979) 60:3-27

Ego Psychology-
Children Who Hate- Fritz Redl & David Wineman (The Free Press, 1951) 250 pages.
Clinical Implications of Ego Psychology- David Rapaport, 1954. In The Collected Papers of David Rapaport.
The Ego and the Id- Sigmund Freud, 1923
Ego Development & Psychoanalytic Technique- Ralph M. Loewenstein. In Practice & Precept in Psychoanalytic Technique: Selected Papers of R.M. Loewenstein (1982).
The Ego in Session. In Diversity and Direction in Psychoanalytic Technique- Fred Pine, 1998.
The Fate of the Ego in Analytic Therapy- Richard Sterba, 1934
Ego Psychology and Communication- Norman Polansky (1971) 314 pages.
The Growth and Transformation of American Ego Psychology- Robert S. Wallerstein, 2002
Some Queries on Principles of Technique- M. Nina Searl, 1936
Two Different Methods of Analyzing Defense- Monroe Pray (1996). In Danger and Defense: The Technique of Close Process Attention.

Articles and books that present a more critical view of psychoanalysis-
The Assault on Truth- Jeffrey Masson (Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, 1984) 308 pages
The Final Analysis- Jeffrey Masson (Harper, 1991) 308 pages
Freud and His Critics- Paul Robinson (University of California Press, 1993) 280 pages
Freud and His Followers- Paul Roazen (Alfred A. Knopf, 1971) 600 pages
Freud: Biologist of the Mind- Frank Sulloway (Harvard University Press, 1992) 611 pages
Freud: The Mind of the Moralist- Phillip Rieff (Viking Press, 1959) 398 pages
In the Freud Archives- Janet Malcom (Knopf, 1984) 165 pages
Psychoanalysis: The Impossible Profession- Janet Malcolm (Vintage Books, 1980) 173 pages


Trauma & Recovery:
Betrayed As Boys: Psychodynamic Treatment of Sexually Abused Men- Richard B. Gartner (Guilford Press, 1999) 355 pages.
The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self- Alice Miller (HarperCollins, 1997) 136 pages.
The Man Who Listens to Horses- Monty Roberts (Random House, 1997) 255 pages.
A Question of Resilience- Emily Bazelon, New York Times Magazine, 4/30/2006      Click here for excerpt
Trauma & Recovery- Judith Herman (Basic Books, 1992) 290 pages.