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In this work, Nathaniel Branden addresses himself to one of the most important problems of our age: the problem of self-alienation
— a condition in which the individual is out of contact with his own
needs, feelings, emotions, frustrations, and longings, so that he is
largely oblivious to his actual self, and his life is a reflection of
an unreal self, of a role he has adopted.
It is a problem, writes Nathaniel Branden, that every
psychotherapist encounters daily, although there is no simple name to
describe it. Sometimes it is experienced as a feeling that one has no
self. It is present in every neurosis. I call it: the problem of the disowned self.
Branden explores the origins of this problem, its symptoms and
consequences — and the means of its therapeutic correction. Moving back
and forth between the theoretical analysis and dramatic case histories,
he illuminates a problem so frightening that many people's energies are
drained in an effort to deny its existence.
In providing solutions for this problem, Branden has developed
a number of exciting and powerful techniques — including a unique
sentence-completion exercise, presented here in full — which helps the
individual break through the barrier of emotional repression and bring
to light denied and disowned thoughts, feelings, and desires — the
disowned self which lies beneath the mask he presents to the world.
The end result is to release not only buried problems, but also
buried greatness — the unrealized potential for growth, achievement,
and fulfillment that most individuals have never discovered.
Originally published in 1971.
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