My Book Reviews

Professor Anthony Clare I have always had a particularly deep interest in psychology, psychotherapy and psychiatry, mainly inspired by my having been diagnosed with clinical depression of the unipolar variety exactly 27 years ago this month.  That diagnosis coincided with my having to recuperate in a psychiatric hospital for seven weeks.  Thankfully, in the interim, I have never had to reacquaint myself with the interior of any such institution, as my experience of the psychiatric service was thankfully a good one.  Needless to say, such is not the experience of many sufferers of mental illness.  I have read many books over the years in the areas enumerated above, but one amazing Irish psychiatrist, scholar, humanitarian and brilliant communicator and populariser of his profession stands out for me, and that is Anthony Ward Clare. Professor Anthony Clare (1942 – 2007) was an Irish psychiatrist and a presenter of radio and television programmes. He presented the g...

I n today’s review, I wish to discuss a novel and an autobiography, Distance (Penguin, London, 1998), a novel by Colin Thubron and Breaking the Heart Open: The Shaping of a Psychologist (Gill Books, Dublin, 2023) by Dr Tony Bates.   At first glance, it would seem that neither of these books has much in common with the other, but there the casual peruser of my bookshelves would be greatly mistaken.   Essentially, they are both works of literature that strive to answer the ancient and primordial question of personal identity, colloquially and succinctly put: Who am I?   They are both books in search of the elusive self, and attempt to put some shape on the story of that often-fraught search.   The story of the novel revolves around a young astronomer, Edward Sanders, who has lost the last two years of his memory and now must begin to piece together his past. Significantly, his post-graduate study is in the area of black holes , and his interview with the doctor at...

Let me start this review of Victor Frankl ’s classic book Man’s Search for Meaning , a work that is deeply existential, with a short introduction on Humanistic Therapy because Logotherapy fits well within the parameters of this general approach to helping clients or patients come to grips with their problems and in getting to develop the best possible version of themselves.   Also known as the humanistic approach, Humanistic Therapy is an umbrella term that covers several types of therapy, including   (i) Person-Centered Therapy as comprehensively studied and practised by Carl Rogers , (ii) Gestalt as postulated and practised by Fritz and Laura Perls, (iii) Focusing   as explained and practised by Dr Eugene Gendlin and (iv) Existential Therapy as found in the works and practices of Viktor Frankl, Rollo May and Irvin Yalom. The human animal is a complex entity.  She or he is a complex interaction and integration (one hopes, as this is the ideal) of the faculties o...

  Review of Sal Mineo: A Biography by Michael Gregg Michaud , Three Rivers Press , New York, 2012.   Sal Mineo’s last words as he was stabbed to death at the age of 37 were: “No… no… Oh, my God… no… help! Somebody, please help me!” (p. 360).  Twice-nominated for best supporting actor at the Oscars , Mineo was dead within minutes as the knife with which he was stabbed punctured his heart.  He probably just about realised he was going to die as the lights went out on his short life.  Samuel Johnson , the great English essayist and biographer, famously remarked that “death concentrates the mind wonderfully.”  However, poor Sal had no time to contemplate the wisdom of this sage advice as his death came so suddenly and immediately. Why did this book pique my interest at all?  Therein lies an old story.  When I was a young teacher in the late 1980s, a colleague of mine recommended a film which had just then been put on VHS video, namely Rebel Witho...