Feeling Matters

Michael Eigen is a psychologist and psychoanalyst. He is Associate Clinical Professor of Psychology in the Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis at New York University (adjunct), and a Senior Member of the National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis. He is the author of a number of books, including 'Toxic Nourishment', 'The Psychoanalytic Mystic', 'Feeling Matters' and 'Flames from the Unconscious'.

'Michael Eigen's latest work reads like a gripping existential novel were it not for its sound psychoanalytic moorings. The title of the book expresses the theme with stark poetic compression: "Feeling (the verb) Matters." we have come to realize that feelings (as a noun) matter, but Eigen takes a dramatic step further by asking us to take the risk of uniting the verb feeling with our sense of personal agency. He further reveals the theme of his book with another example of poetic compression: "To try to sustain the growth of psychic taste buds..." This is an extraordinary and extraordinarily moving archive of how we lead our daily lives as derelict non-feelers - with a reminder of what we are ever missing. I highly recommend this work for all mental health professionals and for the lay public as well.'- James S. Grotstein, MD, author of But at the Same Time and on Another Level (2 volumes)'A gripping work of psychoanalytic art encompassing the breadth of life for those touched by our field. We venture inside Eigen as he struggles to find and stay with his patients. He steps deep into the primal layers beneath everyday events and innocuous words. These are riveting accounts of work with patients who defy every attempt to "treat" them and insist on being encountered raw.' - Mark V, Mellinger, PhD, Faculty and supervisor, Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy 'In an era when emotional processing and affective expression is either trivialized or comodified, Michael Eigen gives passionate voice to the need to grapple with psychic reality. A poet and psychoanalytic visionary, Eigen presents a humanistic, spiritual, and ethical conception of psychotherapy that refuses to ignore the dark side, but rather recognizes that suffering and even agony must be borne, and destructiveness faced head on, to enable development and growth in the individual and society.' - Lewis Aron, PhD, New York University, Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis 'Michael Eigen is a living national treasure of psychoanalysis. His words have the fire and intensity of the Old Testament but his wisdom is ageless and of our time. Feeling Mattersis a declaration of our common humanity written by an uncommonly human psychotherapist. It is a gift for all who read it.' - Mark Epstein, MD, author of Thoughts Without a Thinker and Open to Desire

• Dedication , Credits , Introduction , Yosemite God 1 , Tiny Quivers , Words , Trauma Clots , Election Rape , Healing Longing , Alone Points , Filling Up with Rage , Boxes of Madness , The Annihilated Self 1 , Postscript