Love: Bondage or Liberation? : A Psycholological Exploration of the Meaning, Values and Dangers of Falling in Love

This book explores how, and why, falling love affects us so profoundly? How can it produce such a broad spectrum of feelings, from hatred to altruism, from ecstasy to despair? Can it enlarge who we are or must it ultimately fade without lasting value? Deirdre Johnson is an experienced Jungian Analyst and draws on thirty years of teaching and giving workshops to trainee and professional counsellors and psychotherapists. She argues that the theories from psychoanalysts, relational psychologists, ethologists, neuroscientists, analytical psychologists, and philosophers all make valuable contributions to the theme, and she uses all of these approaches to highlight and explore the many values and dangers inherent in falling in love. She demonstrates how only a pluralistic approach can do justice to an understanding of passionate love in all its richness and complexity and she shows how this richer understanding can actively help a person on the journey of individuation. In this process, she claims, there can be no lasting happiness that does not also involve the happiness of those objective others within and outside of the psyche, and that falling in love can further both inner and out love relationships. "Much has been written about the function of falling in love in the course of therapy itself. This book has a much broader aim. Deirdre Johnson, a Jungian analyst and psychotherapy trainer, uses her teaching and clinical experience to illuminate the whole range of this near universal human experience. How, and why, does falling in love affect us so profoundly? How can it enhance who we are, or must it ultimately fade without lasting value? Johnson argues that the many valuable studies by psychoanalysts, relational psychologists, anthropologists, neuroscientists, and philosophers have all made valuable contributions, and uses these to highlight and explore the many values and dangers inherent in passionate love. However, she claims that a more holistic approach is required to show how these various accounts can be seen as complementary rather than competing, and can be accommodated within an overarching view of the integration of the human being in its heights and depths. Deirdre Johnson's interdisciplinary approach cuts across the different modalities and will appeal to a good cross-section of psychotherapists and counsellors, while being accessible to anyone interested in the meaning of falling in love."--Publisher COVER......Page 1 CONTENTS......Page 6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS......Page 8 ABOUT THE AUTHOR......Page 10 PREFACE: A note on confidentiality......Page 12 Introduction......Page 14 PART I: A QUEST FOR MEANING:THE DIFFERENT NARRATIVES TO DESCRIBE THE PHENOMENON OF FALLING IN LOVE - (A) What we have been: the first love affair......Page 18 CHAPTER ONE: The psychoanalytic discourse: emphasizing the intrapersonal......Page 20 CHAPTER TWO: The relational psychologies discourse: including the interpersonal......Page 42 PART I - (B) What we are: embodied beings......Page 72 CHAPTER THREE: The scientific discourse......Page 74 PART I - (C) What we may be: individuation......Page 96 CHAPTER FOUR: The teleological discourse......Page 98 CHAPTER FIVE: The religious discourse......Page 138 PART II: LOVE’S ALCHEMY: PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER......Page 164 CHAPTER SIX: Various dualisms and their synthesis......Page 166 CHAPTER SEVEN: Holistic love: what difference does all of this make?......Page 182 REFERENCES......Page 198 INDEX......Page 206 Much has been written about the function of falling in love in the course of therapy itself. This book has a much broader aim. The author, a Jungian analyst and psychotherapy trainer, uses her teaching and clinical experience to illuminate the whole range of this near universal human experience. How, and why, does falling in love affect us so profoundly? How can it enhance who we are, or must it ultimately fade without lasting value? The author argues that the many valuable studies by psychoanalysts, relational psychologists, anthropologists, neuroscientists, and philosophers have all made valuable contributions, and uses these to highlight and explore the many values and dangers inherent in passionate love. However, she claims that a more holistic approach is required to show how these various accounts can be seen as complementary rather than competing, and can be accommodated within an overarching view of the integration of the human being in its heights and depths. How, and why, does falling in love affect us so profoundly? How can it enhance who we are, or must it ultimately fade without lasting value? This title highlights and explores the many values and dangers inherent in passionate love.