Thaw

<p>Paul Genova's finely crafted essays which proffer a humanistic and humanizing vision of psychiatry in the face of his profession's preoccupation with target symptoms correct thinking and medication have won him a wide and appreciative readership in the pages of <em>Psychiatric Times</em>. This expanded edition of <em>The Thaw</em> the first collection of his writings adds seven of Genova's recent pieces along with one older one his elegiac Is American Psychiatry Terminally Ill? of 1993 to the original collection. An eloquent defender of psychodynamic psychotherapy in an era of generic trauma stories drug-driven treatment and managed care Genova joins deep erudition lightly worn to a pragmatic sensibility that is respectful of the real-world options - behavioral symptomatic interpersonal and otherwise - available to patients from different walks of life. <br><br>Whether he is reflecting critically on the therapeutic claims of the latest treatment modalities grappling with the meaning of boundary violations paying homage to the transformative potential of suffering or recounting episodes from his own personal and professional odyssey Genova is a luminous guide elegant and down to earth unfailingly thoughtful and thought-provoking to the trials tribulations and healing promise of day-to-day psychotherapeutic work. With vivid immediacy <em>The Thaw</em> celebrates the renascent healing potential of a contemporary person-centered psychiatry that is analytically neuroscientifically and politically informed. All mental health professionals and many interested lay readers will find much here to illumine their daily struggles.</p>