Reviews for Absent Fathers, Lost Sons; The Search for Masculine Identity

The average rating for Absent Fathers, Lost Sons; The Search for Masculine Identity based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2017-06-11 00:00:00 Bagdad Art I've never had much respect for psychoanalysis so I knew early on that this wasn't going to go well. That said, here are my thoughts: Liked: - The author identified several common psychological issues and provided very brief suggestions for how these people might help themselves. It should be noted that this is not a significant portion of the book. Don't come here looking for that. Didn't Like: - Author's selective citations. He included a citation for a word from the dictionary, but didn't include any where it might have been useful, such as in his repeated analysis of dreams, stories, and behaviour which invariably led back to the patients' father issues. - The aforementioned father issues. It seemed like the author had an extreme confirmation bias and was looking for an "absent father" in all his patients. I don't want to claim that this is because he needs to work through his own issues surrounding his travelling salesman father, but I think I just did. - Citations from Carl Jung institutes were far too frequent. I found it hard to take the author seriously, given that it seemed all his information was coming from a very small group of people who may very well only be talking amongst themselves. - Education. This is related to a couple of points above, but the author appears to have no psychological background, except for his "graduation" from the Association of Jungian Psychoanalysts of Quebec. Obviously his lack of a formal education in this field doesn't make his ideas any less valid, but I personally found myself questioning his qualifications every time he made sweeping generalizations about his patients based on very little information.

Review # 2 was written on 2017-08-02 00:00:00 Heather Rinehart If you've felt the absence of a father figure throughout your life, you'll feel like this book has been written specifically for you. I've had a lot of "a-ha" moments during this read. Of course these insights will make more sense if you're undergoing therapy, as the healing process is quicker. This book doesn't give you "carte blanche" to blame your father (or lack thereof) for all the shortcomings in your life though: our parents were just normal people, acting in good faith. It's our responsibility, with therapy's help, to learn a way to "father ourselves" and reclaim our masculinity.