Mummy at the Dining Room Table: Eminent Therapists Reveal Their Most Unusual Cases by Jeffrey A. Kottler, Jon Carlson
BUY IT NEW
- $15.95 List price$15.15 Online price$13.63 Member price(Save 14%)Limited Time Offer! Everyone receives the Member Price on books.
See Details
Reserve it at BN.com & pick it up in 60 minutes at your local store.
Enter a zip code
(Paperback)
- Pub. Date: February 2005
- 325pp
- Sales Rank: 160,776
Buy it Used: 13 copies from $4.22 See All Available
Customers who bought this also bought
Product Details
- Pub. Date: February 2005
- Publisher: Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated
- Format: Paperback, 325pp
- Sales Rank: 160,776
- ISBN-13: 9780787978044
- ISBN: 0787978043
Synopsis
A wife pretends to hang herself in the basement so she can time how long it will be before her husband comes to rescue her. . . .a woman whose dead aunt was made into a mummy so the family could better grieve her passing and on occasion dine with her at family gatherings . . . a man wants his nose cut off to escape an annoying smell that haunts him . . . a teenage boy would only come to therapy if he could bring his pet snake
These and other fascinating and revealing stories are told by some of the most famous therapists in the world. Collected in this extraordinary book, well known practitioners recount the most memorable case histories of their illustrious careers. Engaging and surprising stories of human behavior are dramatically and often humorously portrayed. Each chapter gives a behind-the-scenes look at how therapists work with clients whose problems and behaviors aren't found in standard psychology textbooks. The book also shows how these eminent therapists often cure these apparently intractable problems and learn something about themselves in the process.
Biography
Jeffrey A. Kottler is the author of more than fifty books, including On Being a Therapist and The Last Victim: Inside the Minds of Serial Killer, a New York Times bestseller. He is Chair of the Counseling Department at California State University, Fullerton.
Jon Carlson is a Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Counseling at Governors State University, Illinois, and the author of twenty-five books including Bad Therapy and Time for a Better Marriage and editor of The Family Journal. He has also developed over 150 professional and self-help commercial videotapes featuring today's leading experts in their fields.
Customer Reviews
Mummy at the Dining Room Table: Eminent Therapists Reveal Their Most Unusual Casesby Anonymous
Reader Rating:
See Detailed Ratings
October 08, 2007: 'The Mummy at the Dining Room Table' is a book about some of the most eccentric yet likeable characters you will ever encounter. From a boy who never went to therapy without his pet snake and a woman that had an elective eating disorder and only ate from garbage cans. These patients are treated by some of the world's best therapists that are rather unusual themselves. No matter what your problems are, I guarantee you will feel more normal after reading these amazing yet uncanny case stories. Once you read this book, or even just a story, it changes your view of life because some cases are heartwarming while others are beyond belief. For instance, how a family was so distraught with grief and could not part with their deceased mother they mummified her to be able to sleep, watch television, and eat with her at the dining room table thus where the title of the book derived. This is such a bizarre story no wonder the authors of the book made it the title. I think this was a very good idea on their part because when I first read the title it made my curiosity wander, as I assume it would any other person. It is understandable that a family missed their mother. Nonetheless, how they dealt with her death is what made it an unusual case because normal people would never actually do such a thing. The most common theme exhibited throughout this book is the power of understanding. 'The Mummy at the Dining Room Table' is great for any person of any age because most people can relate to a story or two. For example I thought to myself, 'I wonder what I would do if I were in the therapists shoes ', as I read through the story of the '82-year-old prostitute' and the '3-year-old alcoholic???. I remember thinking I would never be the same. Yet, I understood their thinking. Therefore this is why I think this book was written with a healthy dose of wit, sympathy, and belief that a therapist could cure and help a client cope with their bizarre disorder. The only thing I can think of that a reader would not like is there are some stories that have gross humor and are a bit disturbing. However, if you are fascinated with psychology/ behavioral sciences, don???t mind crude humor, and wonder how therapists deal with such patients then this is a really good book for you. My overall rating would be five stars out of five.
Mummy at the Dining Room Table: Eminent Therapists Reveal Their Most Unusual Casesby Anonymous
Reader Rating:
See Detailed Ratings
October 23, 2006: 'The Mummy at the Dinning Room Table' is a book comprised of many different stories put together all in one. This is a book that was written by many different therapists. Some of the most renowned therapists in the world tell their most interesting stories in great detail. The characters in the story have been changed and completely disguised so that patient/doctor confidentiality is kept. The stories in this book are very strange stories, but they are extremely interesting at the same time and you cannot help but keep reading. A major message that this book made me think of was that no matter how bad you think your life is, there is always someone out there that has it worse. There is such a variety of stories in this book that range from a man who is in love with, and has sexual relations with cows, to a family who couldn?t part with their dead mother so they mummified her and propped her up at the dining room table (thus where the book got it?s title). The story A Mummy at the Dinning Room Table is such an important and startling story, among many, that the authors decided that this would be the most suitable title. I believe that this story was this most important of all the stories in this book because it showed how some people that do things out of the norm, things that are completely wrong think that there is nothing the matter with them at all, such as mummifying their passed on mother. This is something that nobody in their right mind would do but these people did this out of love and compassion and saw nothing wrong with it at all. Reading this book made me reflect on my own life in many different ways. I liked this book very much and I would recommend it to any one who likes to read. Since this book is about true life it is not just for a specific group of people, anybody can read this book and enjoy it. To tell the truth, there was nothing about the book that I did not like. I think that every one who thinks that their life is not going very well should read this book because it gives so many examples of people?s lives that are not normal what so ever. I give this book an over all rating of 5 out of 5.
loading...
loading...
loading...