Phil Mollon – författare

The Physics of the Mind: New Perspectives for Psychotherapists, Healers and Seekers is aimed at psychotherapists, psychoanalysts, healers, and anyone interested in the interface of physics and the mind. Both are interesting topics – even more so when combined. Phil Mollon’s expertise is within psychology and, over his long career, he came to realise the importance of physics to the field. In particular, the branches that place mind and consciousness in the foreground of how we might understand the universe and our place within it. There is a deep organising principle operating at all levels of the universe. It gives rise to life and is apparent within the human mind in dreams and creativity. A key lesson from quantum physics is that consciousness and the human mind are inextricably involved in the emergence of what we can observe and experience of our matter-based realm. In other words, the behaviour of the quantum realm is shaped by our observation of it. Just as we think of space-time as shaped by gravitational forces and massive bodies, so we can conceptualise mind-space. The latter contains mathematical correlithms of thought, emotion, and memory, whereby what is similar attracts more of the same in a manner analogous to gravity. These have effects within the mind and in the wider life-field. For example, severe and repeated childhood trauma creates the equivalent of ‘black holes’ in the mind-space. Metaphysics posits that our matter-based universe is subtended within an infinite unified field of intelligence and creativity. We are contained within a vast mind. The principle is that unlimited guidance and knowledge is available via meditation and intuition, requiring only that we seek. It is never thrust upon us. This is a book filled with extraordinary ideas to dip into wherever curiosity and intuition lead. It is the author’s fervent wish that what is within will stimulate thought and awareness, and spark continuing creative concepts concerning our place in this cosmos.

People like to talk. We know that talking to an attentive and thoughtful listener can be helpful in clarifying conscious and unconscious feelings, thoughts, and motivations. But is talk enough? The complex physiology of anxiety and traumatic stress reactions is often stubbornly persistent, despite therapeutic exploration in both conscious and unconscious areas of the mind. In the case of severe trauma, talking can stir up the emotions and associated bodily disturbance without providing any resolution - sometimes leaving clients feeling worse. The developing field of energy psychology offers an entirely new perspective and gamut of techniques for locating where these traumatic patterns are encoded. They are not in the mind - but in the energy system at the interface of psyche and soma. By addressing these realms concurrently, a powerful therapeutic synergy emerges that allows rapid and deep shifts in the patterns of distress that drive the psychosomatic system. Psychoanalytic Energy Psychotherapy [PEP] provides a window into the deep sources and structures of emotional currents that flow through the mind. From the energetic vantage point, we can survey the parts, the multiple levels, and the hidden programmes of the psychosomatic system. We have access to realms that are not available through the psyche alone. The author has bridged the diverse fields of "thought field therapy" energy psychology and psychoanalysis to provide a novel overview that is both practical and theoretical.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), along with methods from the new field of energy psychology, such as the Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), enable the rapid processing and release of traumatic memories and painful emotion. In this innovative work, Phil Mollon demonstrates how the perspectives of EMDR, energy psychology, and psychoanalysis can inform and enrich each other. By summarising relevant research and providing many clinical examples, Mollon has produced a challenging and invigorating scrutiny of psychoanalysis and an expanded vision of the potential for psychosomatic healing.

People like to talk. We know that talking to an attentive and thoughtful listener can be helpful in clarifying conscious and unconscious feelings, thoughts, and motivations. But is talk enough? The complex physiology of anxiety and traumatic stress reactions is often stubbornly persistent, despite therapeutic exploration in both conscious and unconscious areas of the mind. In the case of severe trauma, talking can stir up the emotions and associated bodily disturbance without providing any resolution - sometimes leaving clients feeling worse. The developing field of energy psychology offers an entirely new perspective and gamut of techniques for locating where these traumatic patterns are encoded. They are not in the mind - but in the energy system at the interface of psyche and soma. By addressing these realms concurrently, a powerful therapeutic synergy emerges that allows rapid and deep shifts in the patterns of distress that drive the psychosomatic system.

A volume in the Psychoanalytic Ideas Series, published for the Institute of Psychoanalysis by Karnac. Here, shame and jealousy are examined as hidden turmoils; as basic human feelings found in everyone but often suppressed and neglected. An unfulfilled need, unanswered plea for help, and failure to connect with and understand other people are al

This book argues mainly that attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and related autistic spectrum conditions reflect states of impaired self-regulation and of enhanced need for regulatory assistance from other people. It is useful and helpful for those who personally struggle with ADHD.

The book draws upon the exciting and illuminating understanding of trauma and dissociation that has developed within the last decade and shows how this can transform our view of many severe personality disorders. MPD is presented as a disorder based upon trauma and pretence - a pretence which structures the personality. The author explores the implications of working with personalities structured around trauma and pretence. The many complex and bewildering aspects of the therapeutic process are discussed.

Many psychotherapy clients have (undiagnosed) traits within the ADHD and autistic spectrums - two constellations of the "mistuned brain" that often overlap. The essence of ADHD is emotional dysregulation, and the sufferer displays enhanced needs for egosupportive responses from others, as he or she struggles with storms of affect, especially rage and anxiety, impulsivity, deficits in executive functioning, and attentional problems. It is often a hidden core within what is otherwise perceived as borderline or emotionally unstable personality disorder. This is a brain-based disorder - which certainly gives rise to psychodynamics but is not caused by psychodynamics. Autistic spectrum traits, which often coexist with ADHD, are similarly brain-based, associated with intense but unintegrated experience, inflexibility, and a range of efforts to cope with potentially overwhelming emotions and anxieties. Phil Mollon, a psychoanalyst and psychotherapist with forty years clinical experience, presents a wide-ranging discussion of these disorders, exploring psychoanalytic, neurobiological and psycho-energetic perspectives. He describes how the classical Freudian model, combined with Kohut's self-psychology, provides a sound basis for effective therapy with clients whose self is under continual threat of disintegration.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), along with methods from the new field of energy psychology, such as the Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), enable the rapid processing and release of traumatic memories and painful emotion. In this innovative work, Phil Mollon demonstrates how the perspectives of EMDR, energy psychology, and psychoanalysis can inform and enrich each other. By summarising relevant research and providing many clinical examples, Mollon has produced a challenging and invigorating scrutiny of psychoanalysis and an expanded vision of the potential for psychosomatic healing.

A volume in the Psychoanalytic Ideas Series, published for the Institute of Psychoanalysis by Karnac. Here, shame and jealousy are examined as hidden turmoils; as basic human feelings found in everyone but often suppressed and neglected. An unfulfilled need, unanswered plea for help, and failure to connect with and understand other people are all underlying causes for shame and feeling inadequate. Mollon argues that feelings of shame form an intrinsic part of the analytic encounter but 'astonishingly, this shame-laden quality of the psychoanalytic and psychotherapeutic setting is rarely addressed.This lucidly written and much-needed volume explores the profound effects shame and jealousy can have on self-esteem and how this can eventually lead to a chronic condition.'In the gaps and clumsy steps in human intercourse, in the misunderstandings and misjudgements, in the blank mocking eyes where empathy should be, in the look of disgust where a smile was anticipated, in the loneliness and disappointment of inarticulate desire that cannot be communicated because the words cannot be found, in the terrible hopeless absence when human connection fails, and in the empty yet rage-filled desolation of abuse - there in these holes and missing bits lies shame. Shame is where we fail.'- Phil Mollon, from the Preface

This book revisits in depth Kohut's own accounts of his theory and clinical work and links them with other contemporary perspectives within psychoanalysis. Contents: Rage, shame and presymbolic dreadDiscerning invisible structuresPerversion, the vertical split and the psychoeconomic dimensionThe healing process in Kohut's psychoanalysisEmpathy and the intersubjectivistsKohut and the internal objectImpasse and OedipusSchizophrenia and depressionThe fragmented self and the thwarted selfThe developmental neurobiology of the self object relationshipSelf psychology perspectives on childhood traumaFurther reflections on psychoanalytic cure

Dr. Phil Mollon has written a new introduction and first chapter, and has substantially revised and modified the rest of the book.

In "The Fragile Self" Dr Mollon argues that psycho-analysis requires an adequate theory of self in order to address effectively those states of mind in which a disturbed sense of self is prominent. He discusses disorders of the self from a variety of points of view, drawing particular attention to the work of Kohut and describing its strengths and limitations. Mollon argues that a broader "taxonomy" of disturbances of self is required and goes on to develop his own thesis that the patients in psychotherapy or analysis are often unconsciously seeking a needed development-enhancing response from the therapist.The therapist' s task is to recognize what this need is and to articulate it to the patient. In this way, the hitherto lonely and unreached parts of the personality can be contacted amd integrated. In exploring these issues, many aspects of psycho-analytic process and technique are re-examined.

In The Fragile Self Dr. Phil Mollon, a respected British psychotherapist, discusses disorders of the self from a variety of points of view, drawing particular attention to the work of Kohut and describing its strengths and limitations. Mollon shows that psychoanalysis requires an adequate theory of self in order to address effectively those states of mind in which a disturbed sense of self is prominent. A broader classification of disturbances of self is required, argues Mollon, who goes on to develop his own thesis that patients in psychotherapy or analysis are often unconsciously seeking a needed development-enhancing response from the therapist. The therapist's task is to recognize this need and to articulate it to the patient. In this way, the hitherto lonely and unreached parts of the personality can be contacted and integrated. In exploring these issues, many aspects of psychoanalytic process and technique are reexamined.