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2 results

Wounded Healers
  • Tribulations and Triumphs of Pioneering Psychotherapists
  • Keh-Ming Lin
  • Translated by Keh-Ming Lin
  • Published online:
    17 December 2020
    Print publication:
    03 December 2020
  • Freud was addicted to cocaine and nicotine, Jung was psychotic for several years, and Margaret Mead remained closeted throughout her lifetime. Yet, adversities notwithstanding, they all made monumental contributions that still shape our view on ourselves and the world. This book includes biographies of fifteen modern explorers of the mind who altered the course of history. All of them were wounded healers who made great discoveries while struggling with traumatic life crises and emotional problems in their personal lives. Full of unexpected twists and turns, their life stories alone are worthy of our attention. In linking their maladies with their creativity, showing the vulnerable and human side of these giants, this book makes the greats approachable and illuminates their scientific findings through narrating their life stories.

  • Introduction

  • Keh-Ming Lin, University of California, Los Angeles
  • Translated by Keh-Ming Lin, University of California, Los Angeles
  • Book:
    Wounded Healers
    Published online:
    17 December 2020
    Print publication:
    03 December 2020, pp 1-10

  • Summary

    This chapter starts with a discussion of the pervasiveness of adversity, the universality of healing practices, and the thesis that the impulse to heal and care is deeply rooted in human nature. It reviews the historical, anthropological, and contemporary literature on the concepts of “wounded healers” and “creative illnesses.” The chapter briefly describes the structure of the book, and the biographies included. This is followed by a discussion of potential negative effects of traumatic life experiences on therapists and the need for cognizance, as well as resilience and support in transforming vulnerability into empathy and strength. It is proposed that theories and practices of different schools of psychology evolved as ways for their founders and practitioners to solve challenges in their own lives and thus could best be understood and appreciated when seen in that context. This is one of the reasons we should pay attention to these founders’ life stories, providing us with nuances, helping us to avoid simplistic and rigid interpretation of abstract thoughts distilled from real-life experiences.