Resource Type: Books

PsychAlive’s library includes many books on subjects of relationships, parenting, self-development, self-destructive thinking and suicide. See a list of recommended titles from PsychAlive’s contributing experts in the field of mental health.

Challenging the Fantasy Bond: A Search for Personal Identity and Freedom

Why are many of us compelled to repeat the pain of our past, while avoiding positive experiences that could enrich our lives? This much-anticipated follow-up to the critically-acclaimed and bestselling The Fantasy Bond tackles the complex question of why so many of us are compelled to repeat the pain of our past while avoiding positive experiences that could… Read more »

Conquer Your Critical Inner Voice

by Robert W. Firestone, Ph.D., Lisa Firestone, Ph.D. Joyce Catlett, M.A. Conquer Your Critical Inner Voice: A Revolutionary Program to Counter Negative Thoughts and Live Free From Imagined Limitations  offers means for dealing effectively with negative thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs that are barriers to one’s personal development, sabotage relationships, and interfere with career success. This… Read more »

Sex and Love in Intimate Relationships

by Robert W. Firestone, Ph.D. Lisa A. Firestone, Ph.D. Joyce Catlett, M.A. Sex and Love in Intimate Relationships proposes that sexual problems are largely related to defenses acquired through painful childhood experiences, and that individuals can be helped to overcome these challenges and become physically and emotionally closer to their partners. Sexuality can be one of… Read more »

Combating Destructive Thought Processes: Voice Therapy and Separation Theory

by Robert W. Firestone, Ph.D. What keeps people from living in ways that satisfy their individual needs and priorities? In this book, noted clinical psychologist Robert W. Firestone sets forth his theory — synthesizing psychodynamic and existential approaches to the psyche — underlying his voice therapy methodology. From childhood, Firestone maintains, humans are prevented from… Read more »

Voice Therapy: A Psychotherapeutic Approach to Self-Destructive Behavior

by Robert W. Firestone, Ph.D. Foreword by Joseph Richman, Ph.D. Voice Therapy: A Psychotherapeutic Approach to Self-Destructive Behavior is a thought-provoking work that provides clinicians with a detailed description of Voice Therapy, an innovative therapeutic procedure developed by Dr. Robert W. Firestone that can be used to elicit and bring to the foreground negative thought patterns… Read more »

Beyond Death Anxiety: Achieving Life-Affirming Death Awareness

by Robert W. Firestone, Ph.D. Joyce Catlett, M.A. Beyond Death Anxiety: Achieving Life-Affirming Death Awareness assists mental health practitioners in helping their clients learn to accept and face their mortality. They describe the many defenses of death anxiety, and suggest methods to cope directly with fears of death; an approach that, ironically, can lead to… Read more »

The Ethics of Interpersonal Relationships

by Robert W. Firestone, Ph.D. Joyce Catlett, M.A. Forward by Jon Carson PsyD, Ed, ABPP. This work is an attempt to explain the source of destructive behavior and how it manifests itself in personal relationships between couples, families and in the social arena. It presents a position that offers a hope of altering the destiny… Read more »

The Fantasy Bond

by Robert W. Firestone, Ph.D. Foreword by R.D. Laing, M.D. Based on 28 years of research into the problem of resistance, this book offers a consistently developed set of hypotheses centering around the concept of the “fantasy bond,” an illusion of connection originally formed with the mother and later with significant others in the individual’s… Read more »

Creating a Life of Meaning and Compassion: The Wisdom of Psychotherapy

by Robert W. Firestone, Ph.D. Lisa A. Firestone, Ph.D. Joyce Catlett, M.A. Creating a Life of Meaning and Compassion offers a compilation of therapeutic insights that are valuable in achieving a better way of living. It describes a unique experience in applied psychology whereby a group of individuals challenged a wide range of defensive behaviors and… Read more »

Suicide and the Inner Voice: Risk Assessment, Treatment and Case Management

by Robert W. Firestone, Ph.D. In the United States, every 17 minutes a person acts on the resolve to terminate his or her existence.” Thus begins Robert W. Firestone’s exploration into the depths of the human problem of suicide. Suicide is a leading cause of death in our nation. What internal factors cause a person… Read more »