Families and How To Survive Them

by Robin Skynner

Other authorsJohn Cleese (Author), Bud Handelsman (Illustrator)

Paperback, 1984

Status

Available

Collections

Mental Health & Wellness Resource Centre, General Interest (GI)

Library Notes

This book is available from the Mental Health Wellness and Resource Centre (MHWRC) in the Galleria (inpatient side) on Level 2 of West 5th Campus. The MHWRC is similar to the Family Resource Centre, but is geared to support those with lived experience. Please call 905-522-1155 ext. 35406 for more information about how to borrow materials from the MHWRC.

Description

What makes a family happy? Why do some marriages 'succeed' and others 'fail'. How can we free ourselves from the legacy of past mistakes and bring about positive change? Love, sex and marriage and parenthood, depression and sadness, independence and experience are just a few of the many issues explored in coversation by family therapist Robin Skynner and his former patient and comedian, John Cleese. Guiding us through the daily issues that confront us all, FAMILIES AND HOW TO SURVIVE THEM offers vital advice in helping each of us to maintain a happy, healthy family life. Looking candidly at everything from our relationships with our parents to why and how we choose our partners, no emotional stone is left unturned- jealousy, rage, fear, envy, love, obsession, hope and despair - all are featured-with practical advice on how to turn round a negative situation and bring about change for the better.… (more)

Physical description

7.75 x 5.31 inches

User reviews

LibraryThing member MarthaJeanne

My goodness, was this accepted as true thirty years ago?

Robin Skynner says that the parents are to blame for everything that goes wrong in a child, except they can't help it because of their parents. Pretty hopeless, really.

Especially to blame for sexual 'deviance'. He specifically doesn't want

homosexuallity called perversion, but he is convinced that it is caused by the upbringing and could be cured if the patient really wanted that. (But too much trouble really, so we don't bother. And we won't insist on rubbing it in that it's really very abnormal, even if it is. Aren't we kind and considerate?)

He also seems to think that all interaction between mental and physical illness starts at the mental side, and that medicinal care could be replaced with psychiatric treatment.

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LibraryThing member MsNikki

Spooky good. Some may question the science, and I wondered if the information is dated, but it made so much sense that I have nothing bad to say about it.

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