Books

Forgiveness in Intimate Relationships

How can one overcome deeply-held resentment so as to resume or establish a bond with a traumatizing person, mindful that the experience of the self is rooted in the very intimate relationships from which such trauma arose? Dr. Siassi’s book centers on the challenge of forgiveness and recovery from trauma in intimate relationships as viewed psychodynamically in the clinical context.

Reviews of Forgiveness in Intimate Relationships

“With this relatively short work Siassi has opened for deeper discussion the topic of forgiveness within the psychoanalytic discourse. The text is not reductionistic in its goal of showing the import of such an experience; rather it is a call for additional study. As such it is more than welcome; it is a rewarding read.”

— Gerald J. Gargiulo, The Psychoanalytic Review

“The book’s style will appeal to a wide audience, and the structure that gives equal weight to the theoretical, the clinical, and, in part two, the portrayal of forgiveness in literature and film. Its style is pleasing to read, yet the challenges of the complexities of forgiveness are never disavowed and is therefore not “easy reading”.”

— Kate Brown, Attachment: New Directions in Psychotherapy and Relational Psychoanalysis

“Siassi has written what can only be considered a tour de force about forgiveness that explicates and promotes her own unique view of where it fits into her psychoanalytic work with patients. It would be impossible to ignore the importance she ascribes to forgiveness in her work with patients.”

— Henry Friedman

Regret, developmental, cultural and clinical realms

Edited by Salman Akhtar and Shahrzad Siassi. Karnak, 2017.

This book is devoted to the developmental substrate of regret and of its vicissitudes over the life span. It deals with fiction, poetry, and movies pertaining to regret. The book elucidates the psychopathological dimension of ego restriction associated with regret.