On and Off the Couch: Memoir of a Psychoanalyst by Beverly Kolsky

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Click Here to Read: On and Off the Couch: Memoir of a Psychoanalyst By Beverly Kolsky Reviewed by Eve Blake in American Association for Psychoanalysis in Clinical   Social Work Newsletter 2032 Issue #1, pp. 4-6.

© 2023 All Rights Reserved. Reprinted from AAPCSW Newsletter,  •  2023, issue 1  •  www.aapcsw.org

On And Off The Couch is a beautifully written love letter to psychoanalysis and its power to transform a life. Kolsky gives us an insider’s look into her own journey of becoming free and independent as a woman, and as a psychoanalyst. This compelling memoir reveals the author’s devotion to her patients, the lucky beneficiaries of her own self exploration. We are fortunate that she found her voice, one worth listening to.
—Lisa Sokoloff, LCSW, PsyA, Supervisor and Instructor IPS

When neither residence on an idyllic Greek island nor all-consuming romance can cure the restlessness of an empty self, Kolsky finds her way to the journey within, and she takes us along for the ride. This undaunted accounting from analysand to analyst is a testament to the enduring power of psychoanalysis to heal, and to the essential humanity we bring to the endeavor, whether on or off the couch.
—Ashley Warner, LCSW, BCD-P, author, The Year After: A Memoir

Kolsky’s memoir is one woman’s odyssey illustrating the best uses of psychoanalysis. Beginning in the conflicted regions of youth, it culminates in a snowy and contented walk in the woods in a maturity framed by psychoanalysis’ insights.
—Rosemary Steinbaum, Founding Trustee, The Philip Roth Personal Library, Newark, NJ

Here is a book that gracefully unravels the complex field of psychoanalysis. In Kolsky’s stirring memoir, she smoothly intertwines her own experience of being psychoanalyzed with her later experience as a professional psychoanalyst. With perspectives from both on and off the couch, we are led to a deeper understanding of how the practice works and why it helps.
—Caperton Tissot, author, History Between the Lines and other publications.

Pure Gold!  Kolsky offers a profound universal remedy that highlights the vital force of psychoanalysis and brilliantly opens the gateway to the intricate world of inner reality.  In today’s complex world, On and Off the Couch: memoir of a psychoanalyst gives a profound universal remedy that highlights the vital force of introspection in order to establish the equilibrium necessary to keep one afloat on the river of life.
—Nuzhat Nada, Instructor Human Development/Psychology

In this intimate memoir, Beverly Kolsky takes us through an intriguing journey. The ghosts of her past, her losses and adventures, are unlocked through her own psychoanalysis. Empathic attunement to her patients guides her work as a psychoanalyst. We are enriched by the insights of this sensitive narrative.
—Penny Rosen, MSW, LCSW, BCD-P

In this jewel of a narrative of self-discovery, Beverly Kolsky takes us on a probing journey exploring the sweep of the psychoanalytic process in transforming her own life as well as her patients’. Those trying to decide whether psychoanalysis is for them will gain an appreciation of its power while those who have benefitted from it will be inspired anew. The book is beautifully layered with evocative images of people, places, and moments in time in New York, London, and Greece and the nodal events in Kolsky’s arc in becoming the person she was meant to be.
—Edward Ross, LCSW, BCD-P. N.Y. Institute for Psychoanalytic Self Psychology, Faculty and Training Analyst, Lighthouse Guild International, Director Behavioral Health

Part memoir, part window into a hidden world, On and Off the Couch: Memoir of a Psychoanalyst is a moving, beautifully written work. The author helps us understand how she, a child of the Sixties, became the woman she is today. And in a series of luminous and evocative portraits she shows us how patients suffering from a broad range of maladies can be helped to gain insight into themselves and thus lead happier and more fulfilling lives.
—Constance Rosenblum, author of Boulevard of Dreams: Heady Times,
Heartbreak, and Hope Along the Grand Concourse in the Bronx.

 On and Off the Couch illuminates the complex process of psychoanalysis, its goals, challenges, and benefits as the author tells of her personal experience on both sides of the process. Using clear and easily understandable language, Kolsky also clarifies the differences between other forms of psychotherapy and counselling.  Readers who have been practitioners of psychotherapy, those who have experienced therapy, as well as those who are students in the field of mental health, will find this an interesting, informative and engaging book.
—Ginny B. Schwartz , Former Director of Counselling Services, St. Lawrence University