Myths of Mighty Women

Their Application in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy

Arlene Kramer Richards, Lucille Spira, Arlene Kramer Richards, Lucille Spira

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9780429916465
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: History & Theory in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Women whose mothers were not called upon to achieve in a man's world have a difficult time seeing themselves as powerful enough to do that. Identifying with mighty women of the past and of the present culture can help them to permit themselves to achieve more than their mothers did. This book provides several such myths from ancient and modern cultures, from both Western and Eastern traditions, each of which is a standard for a particular aspect of female power and all of which can provide that power for women now. Among the aspects of women's power are Super Girl, Warrior Woman, Evil Temptress, Protective Mother and Provider. This book is useful for therapists to read themselves and/or to give to their patients when they suffer from fantasies of the bad mother who does not want to be surpassed or the weak mother who cannot protect, or the therapist who wants to keep the woman patient in a weak and needy position.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• ABOUT THE EDITORS AND CONTRIBUTORS
• SERIES EDITOR'S FOREWORD
• PREFACE
• INTRODUCTION: Mighty Medea, or why female figures from Greco-Roman antiquity matter today
• Ancona's introduction: implications for psychoanalytic psychotherapists
• EPILOGUE: A tribute to Helen Meyers, MD
• INDEX