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Deborah Anna Luepnitz

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Schopenhauer's Porcupines: Intimacy And Its Dilemmas: Five Stories Of Psychotherapy Kindle Edition

by Deborah Anna Luepnitz (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.7 314 ratings

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The classic compilation of psychological case studies from a master clinician and lyrical writer

Each generation of therapists can boast of only a few writers likeDeborah Luepnitz, whose sympathy and wit shine in her fine, luminous prose. In Schopenhauer's Porcupines, she recounts five true stories from her practice, stories of patients who range from the super-rich to the destitute, who grapple with panic attacks, psychosomatic illness, marital despair, and sexual recklessness. Intimate, original, and triumphantly funny, Schopenhauer's Porcupines goes further than any other book in illuminating "how talking helps."

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Throughout its history, psychological theory has contended that at least part of what can make maintaining intimate relationships so difficult is the conflict between feeling aggressive and loving toward the same person. Luepnitz, a psychotherapist and author of The Family Interpreted, finds a metaphor for this problem of intimacy in Schopenhauer's porcupine dilemma a story of how porcupines in winter must struggle between the desire to seek warmth from closeness with each other and the pain they feel from one another's quills as they become too close. Drawing from the writings of Winnicott, Lacan and Freud, along with case studies, Luepnitz not only provides insight into the practice of a wide range of psychotherapeutic treatments (such as couples therapy, family therapy and supportive psychotherapy), but also shows how psychotherapy can help people balance their conflicting feelings of love and hate via discourse and reflection. Written for a general audience, this book is enjoyable to read and nicely describes the treatment of a variety of patients, from an 11-year-old girl struggling to control stress-induced diabetes to a homeless woman dealing with poverty and a history of abusive relationships. Although such anecdotes cannot "prove" the validity of psychotherapeutic methods, Luepnitz's book does give those who may be curious or skeptical about "talk therapies" the opportunity to consider whether psychotherapy is right for them.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Clinical psychologist Luepnitz (The Family Interpreted) practices psychotherapy and teaches at the University of Pennsylvania. A family therapist with Freudian roots but without his authoritarianism, she writes effectively for both lay and professional readers. "The therapy boat is made for rocking," she says, showing how the therapist tries to create balance and assure safety on the rocky ride, despite her own uncertainty about what will happen next. The title metaphor, quoted by Freud, alludes to the prickliness of being close, and Luepnitz offers five illustrative stories of her own, which concern a couple, a family, and three individuals. Comfortably open, Luepnitz writes with humor and humility, adding glimpses of intellectual mentors like Winnicott, Lacan, and Rank and deftly addressing big themes that involve Don Juan and Oedipus. Luepnitz reveals patient and therapist as partners on the pilgrimage toward intimacy. An exemplary casebook, this can be recommended for all libraries, along with a recent view from the other side: Tales from the Couch: Writers on Therapy, edited by Jason Schinder. E. James Lieberman, George Washington Univ., Sch. of Medicine, Washington, DC
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

The title says something about individual and family therapist Luepnitz's sense of humor and her wish to appeal to a broad audience. In the first case she reports, well-educated, artistic Daphne and her truckdriver husband, Karl, argue--supposedly--about having a second child; Luepnitz describes the changing stages of their relationship with refreshing candor, as if they were persons and not merely patients. Judith Kaplan, an 11-year-old diabetic, is Luepnitz's second subject, and her case shows the value of family sessions; Luepnitz's engaging ability to tell a joke on herself surfaces when she, a Catholic, offers to shake hands with Judith's father, an orthodox rabbi. The remaining stories tell of a self-contained Don Juan with commitment problems to himself as well as his girlfriends, an African American woman professor, and a single mother and her child, two of Luepnitz's earliest patients. Luepnitz loves her work, writes clearly, and, especially when she discusses, directly or indirectly, her techniques, produces an engaging and informative book for patients, therapists, and those who enjoy well-told stories. William Beatty
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"Drawing heavily on the work of Lacan, Winnicott, and Klein, Luepintz educates us as well, allowing us to look over her shoulder and see miracles happen."―Boston Globe

"Schopenhauer's Porcupines is the most affirming, original, and literate psychoanalytic work of the past thirty years."―Psychoanalytic Psychology

"I could not put Schopenhauer's Porcupines down. These stories illustrate how a master clinician uses complex and sophisticated theory with just the right light touch, so that it seems transparent to her patients and her readers."―Lewis Aron, PhD, Director, New York University

"Deborah Luepnitz brings a rare grace, wisdom, and literary imagination to these moving stories of patients and therapists talking their way toward the illumination of themselves and each other."―Lynne Sharon Schwartz, author of Disturbances in the Field

About the Author

Deborah Anna Luepnitz, Ph.D., is on the Clinical Faculty of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. She is the author of Child Custody and The Family Interpreted, and is a contributing author to the Cambridge Companion to Lacan. She maintains a private practice in Philadelphia.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B009IU59UY
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Basic Books; 1st edition (August 4, 2008)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 4, 2008
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 914 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 290 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #283,012 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #73 in Psychoanalysis
- #114 in Clinical Psychology (Kindle Store)
- #181 in TA & NLP Psychotherapy

Customer Reviews:
4.7 314 ratings

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4.7 out of 5

314 global ratings

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Amazon Customer

highly recommend it for readers for therapist case studies

Reviewed in the United States on December 10, 2019

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I came across this book on amazon and got intrigued by it based on the other 5 star reviews. I’m so glad I ordered it because this book opened up a whole new genre of books for me. As a person interested in how therapy works, the stories presented in this book give a detailed perspective on how a therapist works with her clients. Dr. Deborah, the author, comes across as a very skilled and mature therapist. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in this genre - this is one of the best works that I’ve come across so far.

2 people found this helpful

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Michael Dow

great stories about psychoanalytic psychotherapy

Reviewed in the United States on December 22, 2023

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The stories here are delightful, and eminently readable. Luepnitz has interesting patients and clearly cares about them. What she seems to be doing here is writing a popular text that illustrates how psychodynamic psychotherapy works. I’m sure there are others but I can’t think of a better one.

Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2024

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Needed for classes, what else can I say

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Bill Deef

Beautiful accounts of five psychoanalyses

Reviewed in the United States on February 7, 2016

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There are five cases histories here of very different people, of different ages, sexes, and social classes, living in the modern world. The therapist is a Freudian and a woman, though both those facts don't seem paramount in the book. The Freudian approach is matter-of-fact and the author is a pro-choice and older feminist. At the same time, both elements do inform the analyses.
What is especially interesting are the descriptions of transference and countertransference, both of which Freud considered fundamental to his form of psychotherapy. You come away with a view of human nature that is much more subtle than any in all those behavioral and neurolinguistic attempts to understand the human brain.
The accounts are lightly punctuated with this very experienced analyst's insightful comments. "The greatest advantage of not having children must be that you can go on believing you are a nice person.". Winnicott is very present here, too: "Therapy takes place neither inside the mind of the patient nor inside that of the therapist, but in some middle area, in the potential space between them.". But lest you fear that these abstract comments are wearying I can tell you that the analyses make them incredibly profound.
The writing is clear as a bell.

17 people found this helpful

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Carolina

Captures the essence of being human

Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2020

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Wonderful book! Really thoughtful and insightful stories. Very “human” narratives. Would absolutely recommend it and am actually going to give it as a gift to a friend.

2 people found this helpful

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Antonia Bercovici

A really good read

Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2015

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Excellent insight on the difficulties people have living together. I suspect at one time couples lived in adjoining caves -- living together is still proving a challenge, which Dr. Luepnitz talks about in an interesting and amusing way. This is a book sure to please not only professionals but everyone who enjoys reading about the prickly parts of humans.

3 people found this helpful

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Tyler

Very good

Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2023

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Loved this book

One person found this helpful

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Shiang-Yun Chuko

Beautifully Written

Reviewed in the United States on November 26, 2021

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I am deeply moved by every single story. It also helped me understand some of the confusing concepts in psychoanalysis. Gem of a book.

2 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Mr. A. J. Richmond

Thought-provoking case studies

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 21, 2013

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I enjoyed the case studies and the links made to the enduring theme of the porcupine, even feeling inspired to write a song on the same theme!

Anyone with a casual or more formal interest in psychotherapy should enjoy this book, and also find it didactic as ideas such as "projective identity" and "transference" are introduced and mentioned. I want to follow up on the many references to Winnicott and Lacan in particular, as I have not read their pioneering and influential writings first hand yet.

6 people found this helpful

Kristian Pilgaard

This is a great book for getting a view into therapy

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 27, 2014

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This is a great book for getting a view into therapy, Life, other people...
History.
Understanding.
You can read so much about mental illness, etc.. All the "technical" bits, etc.
But here you get to hear what the actual struggles may be of people. Also of how the therapists may feel about it, etc.

I really really like that, when you read this you are reminded that the therapist also is a person with needs, and has a life too.
It is about relationship. Not just an observation of another.

As title says.

2 people found this helpful

Ted

Recommend the writer sticks with therapy not writing

Reviewed in Australia on May 3, 2016

Verified Purchase

Recommend the writer sticks with therapy not writing. It's not that it is so bad, but that it is particularly good or new or of real,interest to me at least

Keith

Meh

Reviewed in Canada on August 31, 2023

Verified Purchase

Was there but that’s all

louise m

A great philosopher.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 29, 2018

Verified Purchase

Very informative. A great philosopher.