My library
Is there anything better than your own library that represent you?
In psychology, I was particularly influenced by the writings of the pioneers in the field of systemic psychology. I am thinking of the team from the so-called “Palo Alto School,” including Gregory Bateson, John Weakland, Paul Watzlawick, Don Jackson, Richard Fish, Milton H. Erickson, Steve de Shazer, and Jay Haley, but also younger authors such as Jean-Jacques Wittezaele, Mony Elkaïm, and Giorgio Nardone, among others. I make an effort to read the original writings, as they best reflect the pioneering spirit and are an inexhaustible source of excellent references.
The attitude and worldview in systemic psychotherapy seem to me to be not only valuable and inspiring, but also particularly efficient in psychological care. I am thinking of elements such as the interactional and non-normative attitude, the systemic attachment-based perspective, the logical types, emotional focusing, paradoxical interventions, theories of communication, solution attempts, etc.
In other psychotherapeutic approaches and areas of social science, I am inspired by the writings of ancient Greek philosophers, the French philosopher Blaise Pascal, the philosopher of science Karl Popper, C. G. Jung, the psychiatrist Boris Cyrulnik, and many others.
Here are some (non-technical) psychological writings that inspire me, presented in chronological order:
From Sigmund Freud
Zeitgemässes über Krieg und Tod (1915)
Jenseits des Lustprinzips (1920)
Massenpsychologie und Ich-Analyse (1921)
Das Ich und das Es (1923)
Das Unbehagen in der Kultur (1929)
From C.G. Jung
Psychotherapie und Weltanschauung (1919)
Ziele der Psychotherapie (1929)
Grundsätzliches zur praktischen Psychotherapie (1935)
Die Psychotherapie in der Gegenwart (1941)
Grundfragen der Psychotherapie (1951)
From Norbert Wiener
Cybernetics or control and communication in the animal and the machine (1948)
From Gregory Bateson, Don D. Jackson und John Weakland:
Towards a theory of schizophrenia (1956)
From Don D. Jackson:
The question of family homeostasis (1957)
From Carl R. Rogers
On becoming a person (1961)
From Paul Watzlawick, Janet H. Beavin und Don D. Jackson:
Pragmatics of human communication (1967)
From Gregory Bateson:
Communication (1971)
From Paul Watzlawick:
Patterns of psychotic communication (1971)
From Jay Haley
Uncommon Therapy: The Psychiatric Techniques of Milton H. Erickson, M.D. (1973)
From Paul Watzlawick, John Weakland und Richard Fish
Change. Principles of problem formation and problem resolution (1975)
From Milton H. Erickson
My voice will go with you. The teaching tales of Milton H. Erickson (1981)
From Steve de Shazer
Patterns of brief family therapy - An ecosystemic approach (1982)
From Mony Elkaïm
Pour repenser les systèmes (1990)
From Karl Popper:
Alles Leben ist Problemlösen (1994)
Knowledge and the body-mind Problem - In defence of interaction (1994)
From Paul Watzlawick et Giorgio Nardone
Stratégies de la thérapie brève (1997)
From Jean-Jacques Wittezaele und Giorgio Nardone
Une logique des troubles mentaux (2016)
... and many more...