Body Words and the Analyst’s Use of Self

'Barbara Pizer's book is riveting. Her detailed use of self is evocative and enriching. Her thinking, anchored in Body Words, is novel, deep, and compelling. She achieves an extraordinary depth of perspective in theory and practice, demonstrating an incredible ability to immerse herself in clinical challenges, to conceptualize them, and meet them. It's a must-read for all clinicians.' Hazel Ipp, PhD, chief editor emeritus, Psychoanalytic Dialogues; vice president, IARPP 'Open this book and enter a world of experience. As one of the masters of the practice and theory of Relational Psychoanalysis, Barbara Pizer conveys in exquisite detail how psychoanalysis moves and changes people's lives. She practices and teaches the art of engagement, where feeling and expression, whether verbal or not, are the embodied center of clinical work. You will feel immersed in the living moment of analytic work. More important, you will learn how the shared knots of repetition loosen and transform into a more open way of engaging and living creatively as well.' Jack Foehl, PhD, joint editor in chief, Psychoanalytic Dialogues; president, Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute 'Pizer's book demonstrates her astute capacity to put the world of the patient-therapist relationship before us. Her innovative ideas for how to engage successfully in the dyad are perfect for both experienced and new clinicians. Body Words is an accurate, evocative expression of mind-brain-body connection crucial for a contemporary emphasis on nonlinear process and systems thinking. Finally, there is the poetry in Pizer's prose that her old readers have come to expect and new readers, dreading theory-heavy, unimaginative writing, will welcome.' Estelle Shane, PhD, training and supervising analyst and faculty member, Insitute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis, Los Angeles, and the New Center for Psychoanalysis, Los Angeles