Identities in Transition: The Growth and Development of a Multicultural Therapist

by Monisha Nayar-Akhtar

Overview

This is a book about the growth and development of a multicultural therapist/analyst, looking at how a history of immigration and exposure to analytic training began to influence clinicians as they evolved as analytic therapists and analysts.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781782201090
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	01/16/2015
Pages:	220
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Monisha Nayar-Akhtar obtained her Masters and PhD in clinical psychology from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Later, she trained at the Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute in adult and child/adolescent analysis. Since 2007 she has been practicing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as an adult and child/adolescent psychoanalyst. She is also on the faculty of the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia. Dr Nayar-Akhtar has a keen interest in applying psychoanalytic principles to community issues and promoting psychoanalytic thinking in India, her country of origin. Dr Akhtar has presented and published widely in the area of trauma, cultural issues, attachment and impact of the Internet on adolescent development. She has also edited a book titled Play and Playfulness: Developmental, Cultural and Clinical Aspects, and is the Guest Editor for an issue of the Psychoanalytic Inquiry titled "Working With children in Alternative Care Settings." Dr Nayar-Akhtar is a Training and Supervising analyst and lives in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania with her dog, Majnun.

Table of Contents

Foreword — Preface — The confluence of cultures: an Iranian–American story — Lost luggage: analytic training as search for objects lost in migration — A tale of two cities — Navigating our cultural identifications: individual, social, and political struggle in the therapy room — De dónde eres? Finding a “from” in psychoanalysis — A wound of no return: in search of self, loss, and transformation — A demand for training — Stolen freedom — Crossing the border within: migration, transience, and analytic identity — The unmatched twin: enactments of otherness and the autobiography of an immigrant clinician — Conclusion: change is us

Editorial Reviews

"In Identities in Transition, the authors contend with the crucial need for clinicians to be able to consolidate their identities sufficiently to support the developmental needs of the person in treatment. In this era of increasing globalization, the need to recognize and respect both commonalities and differences is vital. Using the lens of immigration affords an important vantage point from which to consider ways in which cultural identifications affect identity development and the therapeutic process. This volume is a must-read for all those attempting to do the complicated work of insightoriented psychotherapy, in which one must be sufficiently familiar with oneself – through both internal and external vantage points – to be able to attain an in-depth understanding of the other."

Marilyn Charles

"Considering psychoanalysis has historically focused on the human experience of “otherness,” through symptoms, social isolation, and emotional disconnection, it is striking how diversity and multicultural issues have occupied so little space in our field. Monisha Nayar-Akhtar and her collaborators succeed in filling that space. Identities in Transition speaks, in a most compelling way, of the experience of the multicultural therapist and the impact on personal and professional development and identification. But, these authors go further. Their stories, often painful, and subsequent analytic work, have not only transformed them, but more importantly, are transforming our field. This is essential reading for any therapist serious about practicing effectively in today’s multicultural world."

Mark D. Smaller