The Primal Wound: A Transpersonal View of Trauma, Addiction, and Growth

by Ann Gila and John Firman

Book Overview

Argues that a primal wounding of the human spirit occurs in earliest human life that disrupts fundamental relationships and leads to anxiety, loneliness, and alienation; and shows how this wounding can be redeemed through therapy and through living one's life differently.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0791432947
• ISBN13: 9780791432945
• Release Date: April 1997
• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Length: 296 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.2" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Ever person over 30 should read this book.......

If you have lived your life in the adult world for any period of time, it's time you read this book. Take a look at your emotions and relationships from a new perspective! This book gives us insight into why we behave the way we do, and then suggests ways to integrate ourselves into a broader perspective that allows us to change those things that are making us unhappy. I sent this book to relatives in the US and abroad, and I know that it is providing us all with great information to help us heal our lives and move beyond real unhappiness and discontent.It's a psychology book, and is not a quick read. But it makes a lot of sense and pushes you along. The references to other work are helpful and useful as well.Good reading!

the most lucid book on the basic problem of being human

Jonh Firman's "The Primal Wound" (with help from partner Ann Gila), is definitely not just another self-help book. It is the book to read if you want to understand the deep dynamics of growing up and the wounds or the primal wound that you carry.Using the wonderfully post-Jungian model of Psychosynthesis, Firman details in clear and simple language the development of wounds and how they create a survival personality that is different from one's authentic personality. The book is a gem, full of ideas from amny sources. The integration of them will cause transpersonal theorists to take a closer look at what psychosythesis theory has to offer.This book shows that it has a lot to offer because it is integrative and synthesizing in nature. This dynamic is part of the structure of Psychosynthesis and Firman's book proves that we haven't heard the last of him. There is a wealth of material here and wisdom as powerful as it gets.