Books by Vamik Volkan

Vamik D. Volkan recounts the story of Judy, a woman attempting to solve her early life deprivations through non-chemical addiction. He provides an understanding of the psychology behind such an addiction and also illustrates pertinent therapeutic concepts and issues which arose in Judy's case. These include built-in transference, twinning, interpretation, dreams, hoarding, acting out, and therapeutic play. By paying attention to such things, it is possible to gain a greater understanding of the internal worlds of patients with preoedipal deprivations, conflicts, and fixations. For this case, Dr Volkan undertook the role of supervisor to an analyst in training. The topics of the psychoanalytic supervisor-supervisee relationship and the supervisor's emotional reactions toward the patient, whom the supervisor never meets, are rather ignored in the psychoanalytic literature. This book gives an open and frank overview of the relationship, reporting not only what was said but also what lay behind the words. Written in Dr Volkan's characteristically accessible style, this book will be enjoyed equally by those under supervision as those providing it, and provides an excellent overview of work with addiction.

This book investigates the underlying psychology of the societal divisions occurring in the world and includes the author‿s personal observations and experiences of racism as a ‿voluntary immigrant‿ to the US over six decades ago. This immensely readable book, written in a beautifully clear and jargon-free prose, features an Addendum on Covid-19.

The first rigorous psychoanalytic investigation into the heart and mind of Nixon explores the forces and events that shaped his complex personality, presenting an enlightening portrait of a troubled man whose insecurities doomed him to suffer the most sensational downfall in American political history.