Main description:

Self-Evaluation and Psychotherapy in the Market System examines the ways in which the competitive, hierarchical nature of today's market system contributes to the issues that many clients bring to therapy. Instead of seeing a lack of self-esteem as the root of clients' problems, Glantz and Bernhard argue that self-evaluation-the struggle to achieve a high opinion of self-exacerbated by the market system, leads to stress and endless self-involvement. Beginning with an explanation of the connection between the market system and self-evaluation, this volume then goes on to describe an approach to therapeutic treatment designed to free clients from the negative effects of the market system by moving away from self-evaluation altogether. This is a must-read for therapists looking for a new approach to treating clients left questioning their place in a society that encourages competition and self-involvement.

Contents:

Introduction: Connections 1. Psychological Distress and the Market System 2. Ancient Emotions in a Strange New World 3. Children of the Market System 4. Work: Oppression or Opportunity? 5. Imaginary Sticks, Imaginary Stones: Undoing Self-Generated Distress 6. Farther Out? Some Additional Interventions 7. Some Sad Bedfellows of Self-Evaluation 8. A Little More on Anxiety 9. Self-Evaluation and Relationships 10. Illustrations from the Files References