Nearer to the Heart's Desire: Tales of Psychotherapy

These eight stories of psychological drama are so mesmerizingly rich, intimately drawn, and luminously crafted that we have to keep reminding ourselves they are true. The reader finds himself in the intensely private and charged space between patient and therapist and becomes engaged as collaborator and peer in the healing process. It is a rare opportunity afforded by an author whose style reflects warmth, intellect, modesty, humor, and an often touching awareness of his own fears and frailties and the limitations of his profession.
In each one of these radiantly humanistic stories there is a central mystery - from an elderly woman whose tennis racket has become virtually an extension of her hand; to seemingly ordinary Artie, who obsessively fantasizes about strangling his nine-year-old niece; to the popular comedienne who hears voices; to Constantine and Peter, the mirror-image twins; to the orthodox Freudian psychoanalyst whose unyielding belief in unconscious motivation drives him to plead guilty to an obvious accident.
George Weinberg introduces us to people with very different visions of life, but in each case the goal of therapy remains the same - to bring the patient nearer to the heart's desire. These stories provide a privileged glimpse of life on both sides of the couch. We feel, we react, we identify, we reflect - and we learn a great deal more about ourselves, each other, and the wondrous depths of the human psyche.