The Dark Side of Hope

Using her deep understanding of self-psychological theory and her own extensive clinical experience Karen Krett offers us a scholarly yet down-to-earth examination of hope. For too long hope has been promoted as an unmitigated virtue without any consideration of its dark side. Yet as Krett shows through revealing clinical examples hope may also impede development and contribute to psychological suffering. Her book serves as a wonderful guide from hope's dark side to the light. Doris Brothers Ph.D. author of Toward a Psychology of Uncertainty: Trauma-Centered Psychoanalysis and Falling Backward: An Exploration of Trust and Self-Experience. Hope saturates the cultural air we breathe: in movies songs advertising political slogans and self-help books. Now for the first time Karen Krett LCSW is putting hope on the therapist's couch. Krett examines the duality of hope. In childhood hope can be the emotional glue that keeps us from falling apart from losing the thread of life. In adulthood unconscious patterns of hoping for what can never be often interfere with our ability to make good choices in love and work. It may seem as if giving up any hope would mean the end of us but Krett offers a refreshingly different perspective: by breaking the hold of the dark side of hope we can become free to direct ourselves toward hopes which can be realized.