The Present Moment in Psychotherapy and Everyday Life by Daniel N. Stern

From the Publisher

While most psychotherapies agree that therapeutic work in the 'here and now' has the greatest power to bring about change, few if any books have ever addressed the problem of what 'here and now' actually means. Beginning with the claim that we are psychologically alive only in the now, internationally acclaimed child psychiatrist Daniel N. Stern tackles vexing yet fascinating questions such as: what is the nature of 'nowness'? How is 'now' experienced between two people? What do present moments have to do with therapeutic growth and change?

Certain moments of shared immediate experience, such as a knowing glance across a dinner table, are paradigmatic of what Stern shows to be the core of human experience, the 3 to 5 seconds he identifies as 'the present moment.' By placing the present moment at the center of psychotherapy, Stern alters our ideas about how therapeutic change occurs, and about what is significant in therapy. As much a meditation on the problems of memory and experience as it is a call to appreciate every moment of experience, The Present Moment is a must-read for all who are interested in the latest thinking about human experience.

About the Author:

Daniel N. Stern, M.D., is Honorary Professor of Psychology at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, and Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at the Cornell Medical School. He is author of the acclaimed The Interpersonal World of the Infant, among other notable titles.

Library Journal

Noted psychiatrist Stern (The Interpersonal World of the Infant) addresses the phenomenon of the emotional now, about four seconds of vitally felt but unspoken "lived stories." When shared with another, these "moments of meeting" shape the identities of participants in what is an intersubjective exchange, a mutual mind reading. Psychoanalysis, with its emphasis on history and interpretation, tends to miss this immediacy, which is as powerful and elusive as responding to a musical phrase or a child's gesture. Stern distills his perspective from psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, the arts, and "breakfast interviews" that shed light on everyday "now" experience. His observations and theory will change our thinking about intimate relationships, time and rhythm, behavioral evolution, empathy, morality, and brain function. What works in therapy seems akin to Franz Alexander's "corrective emotional experience," an unremarked forebear in Stern's otherwise impressive bibliography. Important and accessible enough to be considered essential for most libraries.-James Lieberman, George Washington Univ. Sch. of Medicine, Washington, DC Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

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• Table of Contents

Table of Contents