Mourning the Person One Could Have Become - by Witold Simon (Hardcover)

About the Book

This book introduces the concept of the "Person One Could Have Become" and shows the importance of mourning for individuals with all sorts of traumatic experiences (abuse, neglect, or pregnancy loss). Presented here are philosophical tenets (existential-humanistic) as well as ...

Book Synopsis

This book introduces the concept of the "Person One Could Have Become" and shows the importance of mourning for individuals with all sorts of traumatic experiences (abuse, neglect, or pregnancy loss). Presented here are philosophical tenets (existential-humanistic) as well as the clinical applications (integrative group psychotherapy). The role of the psychotherapist and appropriate supervision is emphasized. The book utilizes examples of traumatized individuals who struggle during psychotherapy.

Review Quotes

Dr. Witold Simon has created a comprehensive overview of existential approaches to trauma. This book extends our understanding of trauma further than both Jacobsen's European existential summarization of the topic, and Stubrin's recent American humanistic-existential work. I believe he is successful in going beyond manualization and in so doing provides a very stimulating book which will be of great interest to practitioners. Working with trauma is frequently challenging and such encouragement and thoughtful critique is much-needed.

Simon's work here is impressive. He illuminates at both the practical and theoretical levels a relatively overlooked but vital aspect of humans and psychotherapy, and he does so by richly relating the work of a host of important existentialists.

This engaging book goes deeply into a very relevant clinical topic. Witold Simon provides the theoretical solid ground of the innovative construct The Person One Could Have Become (POCHB) and its connection to trauma experiences. The author presents the term from a new perspective based on a profound reflection, as well as multiple theoretical approaches with a strong emphasis in an existential-humanistic view. Simon very well depicts how psychotherapy could be an experience of moving from trauma to authenticity, pointing out integrative group psychotherapy as modality fit enough for such a profound transition as mourning the Person One Could Have Become. The role of the therapist and supervision features is subsequently described. Critiques of the POCHB concept are not spared, inviting the reader to widen the scope of study and discussing further research.

About the Author

Witold Simon, MD, PhD, CGP, is Assistant Professor at the Department of Neurotic Disorders and Psychotherapy, at the Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, Warsaw, Poland.