Passionate Inquiry: Psychotherapy as a Life’s Work by Jesse D. Geller

“Dr. Jesse Geller is a psychotherapist, researcher, and scholar renowned for creative, personal, and intellectually penetrating writings on a rich variety of therapy-related topics. Reading this collection of his work, garnered from 50 years of passionate inquiry, will provide thoughtful therapists young and old with the rare opportunity for a virtual encounter with a deeply experienced senior colleague at the height of his powers.”
—David E. Orlinsky, Prof. Emeritus, University of Chicago; Past- President of the Society for Psychotherapy Research

“Jesse Geller, a master clinician, researcher, and teacher, has written a book vast in scope and profound in depth in which he enlightens both beginning and advanced mental health practitioners about the rich and multiple dimensions of therapeutic work. He shows us the intimate connections that exist between the personal and the professional, the aesthetic and the practical dimensions of life as a psycho-dynamic therapist. It is not surprising that he writes on the subject of courage, since he possesses a rare degree of honesty and openness about what it really takes to engage in the ‘impossible profession.’”
—Danielle Knafo, PhD, Professor of Clinical Psychology, LIU, author of The New Sexual Landscape and Contemporary Psychoanalysis, The Age of Perversion: Desire and Technology in Psychoanalysis and Culture, and others

“Excellent reading! Dr. Geller is able to convey in a very warm and down-to-earth style his thoughtful understanding of various psychodynamic concepts that otherwise can be complicated and cumbersome to follow. He does so from diverse modes of being: patient, therapist, professor, and human being. In this way, he is able to create an integrated perspective of interest to seniors, mid-career, new therapists as well as clinicians-in-training. Dr. Geller’s sharing of experiences in psychotherapy during different stages of his adult development serves as a testament to the power of transparency and self-disclosure at its best. Last but not least, Dr. Geller poignantly addresses issues of diversity from an individual level when elaborating on gender (males) and romantic love, a systemic level when addressing racial and social class bases in the evaluation of patients for psychotherapy, and from a very personal and intimate level when addressing his daughter Jenny’s profound deafness. Reading this book is a treat and a gift.”
—Dinelia Rosa, PhD, Director, Dean—Hope Center of Educational & Psychological Services, and Professor, Counseling & Clinical Psychology, Teachers College, Columbia University

“This treasure of a book written by a master of psychotherapy over his lifetime hits us from all sides: scientific, academic, clinical, personal, revelatory. The power, potential, and dimensionality of the practice of psychotherapy comes to life in these pages, filled as they are with startling insights and creative perspectives. Yes, this is a book about psychotherapy, but more so, it is a book about wisdom.
Wisdom about what it is like to be with another person, indeed, what it is like to be a person. Those of us lucky enough to be Jesse’s student, mentee, client, or friend will give this book a special place in our homes, as we have given him a special place in our hearts.”
—David Read Johnson, PhD, Post Traumatic Stress Center, and Yale University

Articles include:

Geller, J.D. My Personal Tiresias: A Geographer of the Inner World. In Symbolization and Desymbolization: Essays on Behalf of Norbert Freedman. Karnac Books

Geller, J.D., & Freedman, N. (2011). Representations of the therapeutic dialogue and the post-termination phase of therapy. In N. Freedman, M. Hurvich, R. Ward, J.D. Geller, & J. Hoffenberg (eds.), Another kind of evidence (pp. 55-660. London, UK: Karnac Books.

Geller, J.D. (2018) Introduction: The Transformative Powers of Aesthetic Experiences, Psychotherapy, Journal of Clinical Psychology, 74:200 207 Permitted through Wiley.

Geller, J.D. (1978). The body, expressive movement, and physical contact in psychotherapy. In J.L Singer and K. Pope (Eds.), The power of human imagination: New methods in psychotherapy (pp. 347-378). New York, NY: Plenum Press. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4613- 3941-0_12

Geller, J.D. (1987). The process of psychotherapy: Separation and the complex interplay among empathy, insight, and internalization. In J. Bloom-Feshbach and S. Bloom-Feshbach (Eds.), The psychology of separation through the life span (pp. 459-5140. San Francisco, CA: Josey-Bass.

Geller, J.D. (1988). Racial Bias in the evaluation of patients for psychotherapy. In L. Comas-Diaz & E. Griffith (Eds.), Clinical lines in cross cultural mental health (pp. 112-134). New York, NY: Wiley

Geller, J. D. (1996) Thank you for Jenny. In B. Gerson (ed.), The therapist as a person: Life Crises, life choices, life experiences, and their effects on treatment (pp. 119-134). New York, NY: Analytic Press.

Geller, J. D. (2005a) My experiences as a patient in five psychoanalytic psychotherapies. In J.D.  Geller, J. Norcross, & D.E. Orlinsky (eds.), The Psychotherapist’s own therapy: Patient and therapist perspectives (pp. 81-97). New York, NY: New York, NY: Oxford University Press Requested https://plsclear.com/

Geller, J.D. (2005c). Boundaries and internalization in the psychotherapy of psychotherapists. In J.D. Geller, J. Norcross, & D.E. Orlinsky (eds.), The Psychotherapist’s own therapy: Patient and therapist perspectives (pp. 379-405). New York, NY: New York, NY: Oxford University.