Families and How to Survive Them

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Interesting, thought provoking, perhaps somewhat controversial especially with respect to the views expressed on homosexuality, funny and worth the read. Um livro muito interessante sobre as terapias de grupo nomeadamente para fins de aconselhamento matrimonial. He was a gifted teacher and practitioner of psychotherapy with individuals, groups, families, couples and institutions. It is particularly interesting how psychoterapy tends to make itself religion-like by owing virtually all inconveniencies of human personality to such early a childhood that no method of proving particular behavior of patient or patient's parents in that period exists. One notices that while they are opening and accepting when it suits them they are strict and prescriptive on other issues like spare the rod and spoil the child.

This book looks at psychiatry for the layman, in terms of why some people are happy while others aren't; why some people have repressed emotions, and what happens to them; what can cause people to become 'stuck' in their development from babyhood. As the book itself explains, change takes time to cope with and too much change can be dangerously stressful.I really enjoyed this non-fiction book, even though I didn't agree with all of the opinions within it (what makes people homosexual for example). Skynner opens with a classic folk tale motive - his great uncle relating how Skynner's mother said that her son would either be a genius or end up in the madhouse.

This was also in the form of a convivial conversation between Cleese and Skynner and following the same structure as the book, albeit in an abridged form.In 1959, Skynner, together with fellow disciples of Dr Foulkes, founded the Group Analytic Practice, which specialises in group, family and marital therapy. Ocena byłaby wyższa, bo w porównaniu z następną książką (którą przeczytałam wcześniej) "Żyć na tym świecie i przetrwać" jest bardziej konkretna i więcej tam przystępnie wytłumaczonych mechanizmów dot. He became Foulkes's pupil and later his patient in a group; Robin Skynner would readily admit he needed treatment himself. I don't agree with every word - the recommendations about strict discipline for children seem over-harsh to me, for instance - but much of what's said is revelatory and fascinating. Families and How to Survive Them is a bestselling self-help book co-authored by the psychiatrist and psychotherapist Robin Skynner and the comedian John Cleese.

There are some great ideas in here still, and the dialogue format is very engaging and easy to read, but reading it from thirty-ish years later, be prepared to discard a lot as you go. How we chose our partners and how families repeat patterns of behaviour down through the generations is looked at in great depth. The authors themselves have said that the aim of the book was "to make intelligible and accessible the psychological aspects of how families behave and function, what makes some work and others fail, and how families can move up the scale towards greater health and happiness". If you are quite brave, getting on with your life, mixing quite well with different types of people, learning about life, going through the pain of life very naturally, this book will only add to the depth of your understanding. But a few years later, I was aware of some behaviour from my children (I had two by this time) that kind of rang a bell with me, but I couldn't remember why it was happening.I also wonder if psychiatrists etc even still have these same beliefs, since the book was written almost 30 years ago now. He studied Law at Cambridge University and has enjoyed a successful career in comedy, theatre, film and television.

Homosexuals are deviants and are the way they are because they missed a stage in childhood, hmm, really? A fantastic book that has the potential to change your life - if only because you might see your life differently.There's a note of my father's inside the cover asking what is the truth, for me the point of all this is 'the truth' isn't what matters, it is the stories we tell ourselves and choose to regard as the truth which count, and perhaps that is why I enjoyed the first hundred pages because of the sense that one can read one's own life or the lives of others as a folktale or fairy story, indeed isn't it astonishing how many Cinderella's there are about and. Skynner admits he fulfilled the prophecy by entering the madhouse, but through the staff door, this is the kind of thing I so much enjoyed in reading Herodotus. Love, sex and marriage and parenthood, depression and sadness, independence and experience are just a few of the many issues explored in conversation by family therapist Robin Skynner and his former patient and comedian, John Cleese. Guiding us through the daily issues that confront us all, FAMILIES AND HOW TO SURVIVE THEM offers vital advice in helping each of us to maintain a happy, healthy family life.