Violent States and Creative States (Volume 2)

In this superbly informative and inspiring collection, various forms and manifestations of violence and of violent states of mind and of society are analyzed and countered by creative alternatives. Volume 2 focuses on the origins and aftermath of individual violent states of mind and violence directed towards self or others and describes how psychotherapeutic, psychosocial and activist interventions can provide and promote creative alternatives. This volume is a treasure trove for everybody in all the many fields of violence reduction. -- Friedemann Pfäfflin, MD, Prof. em. of Forensic Psychotherapy, Ulm University
This is a magnificent book. In the introduction there is a half apology that it is not aiming to be encyclopaedic, but it is amongst the most encyclopaedic accounts of violence, its many threads, and especially its structural roots, that I have encountered. Diverse, experienced, expert and coherent chapters moving from the political/structural to the intrapsychic, and back and forth between violence, and its proposed antidote, creativity. I thoroughly recommend this book, not just to those whose interest is therapeutic, but to those who really ought to be reading it because their hands are on levers of power. -- Dr Dickon Bevington, Medical Director, Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families
How does healthy aggression become pathological violence? How do victims become perpetrators? In part two of Violent and Creative States leading experts in the field focus on developmental and clinical aspects of human violence and show how therapeutic, not punitive, interventions can lead to rehabilitation, recovery and restitution. I highly recommend this book to all those working with violent individuals and groups in health, social and legal settings. -- Jessica Yakeley, Psychiatrist, Psychoanalyst and Director, Portman Clinic, London UK.
Violence is vital for human survival - protective as well as destructive. But violence begets violence, the cycle only being defeated by love's power, as Martin Luther King Jr. reminded. The editors have selected contributors who have axes to grind, in protecting matters close to their hearts. Contributions model creative, non-violent, responses to violent attacks, via channelling their authors' violent impulses into rational arguments and urgings. Do not skim-read this book. Dip in; pick out; read; muse; rest; and repeat. -- Dr Kingsley Norton, Jungian Analyst and Medical Psychotherapist