Search Results for: lisa+firestone

The Secret to Happiness and Well-Being

…sh their goals. This approach to life represents what my father Dr. Robert Firestone has identified as being in an adult mode, in contrast to maintaining a childish stance or adopting a parental/ judgmental point of view. He sees these characteristics as essential elements to being an emotionally healthy individual. The idea that resilience is one of the primary keys to well-being is backed by Dr. Salvatore Maddi’s 35 years of research into “hardi…

Learn More

Fantasy Bond

…was introduced by psychologist and author of The Fantasy Bond, Dr. Robert Firestone. In his book, Conquer Your Critical Inner Voice, Dr. Firestone explains the fantasy bond as follows: Generally speaking, the single most important factor that contributes to the deterioration of love and friendship in a relationship is the formation of a fantasy bond. People who develop this type of destructive bond often deceive themselves and each other by imagi…

Learn 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 of humankind’s unethical behavior. From the Authors’ Introduction ‘Our inspiration for writing this book springs from a d…

Learn More

The Myth of a Perfect Mother

…to be real people with them. In his latest book, Separation Theory, Robert Firestone writes that parental love “includes a willingness to be a real person with the child as opposed to acting the role of ‘mother’ or ‘father.’” Our children need us to step out from behind the role of Perfect Parent so they can see and know us as an authentic person. And they need to be related to by a genuine person to feel seen and real themselves. In Compassionate…

Learn 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 antithetical to the self and cynical toward others (the crit…

Learn More

Beware of the Soulmate Myth

…amaging to the individuals in the couple and to their relationship. Robert Firestone has identified the destructive impact of the fantasy bond, a defensive reaction in which the members of a couple develop a fantasy of being one with their mate. Their real feelings of love and the delight they once took in interpersonal exchanges are slowly replaced by the fantasy of being merged with and magically connected to each other. How a Fantasy Bond (or f…

Learn More

Death Anxiety

…re able to more fully embrace love and the spirit of life. Read Dr. Robert Firestone’s Article on Factors that Increase or Suppress Death Anxiety Read Dr. Robert Firestone’s Article on Societal Defenses Against Death Anxiety References Florian, V., & Mikulincer, M. (2004). A multifaceted perspective on the existential meanings, manifestations, and consequences of the fear of personal death. In J. Greenberg, S. L. Koole, & T. Pyszczynski (Eds.), Ha…

Learn More

It’s Not Your Fault: Overcoming Trauma

…ual within a family is something my father, psychologist and author Robert Firestone, has described as a “human rights violation.” He’s written extensively about the toll interpersonal pain and traumatic childhood conditions can have on a person’s freedom and expression of individuality, including that they lead to the formation of powerful psychological defenses. “No child is born bad or sinful; rather, the psychological defenses that children fo…

Learn More

Leaving Your Childhood Behind to Become a Better Parent

…of “Voice Therapy,” developed by my father, psychologist and author Robert Firestone, involves putting your critical thoughts in the second-person (as “you” statements.) My friend tried this exercise herself with journaling. First, she wrote down her most shameful feelings in relation to herself as a parent. Rather than writing, “I am a terrible mother,” she wrote, “You are a terrible mother.” She proceeded with, “Your son will grow up hating you….

Learn More

The Over-Parenting Syndrome

…use they (the parents) feel connected to them through a process Dr. Robert Firestone calls the fantasy bond. In this imagined connection with their children, parents partly relieve their own fears of aloneness, separation, and death – the ultimate separation. In their minds, they feel merged with their children, while in reality, they may not be fully present in their interactions with them. These parents cherish the feeling of being needed by the…

Learn More