I am glad to read this. I saw AG recommend it on a thread (maybe yours??) and I also got the book. I couldn't follow it, and I find myself to be quite competent! Maybe I should give it another crack...thanks.

I'm stuck on the first chapter. :-/

Waterlogged/ Tenacious,
Maybe keep trying- even if you don't understand all of it. The basic principles are good even if the science gets in the way a bit! I can't remember exactly, but Ithink possibly the first few chapters were some of the most scientific. For me, it was worth persevering because i got a lot out of it. I read it in very small portions!
Otherwise maybe there are some easier suggestions around? I found Yaloms books quite good. They are not scietific- not going to explain everything, but nice to read in terms of thinking about therapy.
x

Maybe I just wasn't in the right mood. I've read Mindsight and Parenting from the Inside Out by Siegel, Attachment in Psychotherapy by Wallin, and 2 of Yalom's books. I'll try again. Maybe on a day where my kids haven't driven me crazy.

I struggled BIG time with Wallin. ONly read some of it. I reckon if you can do that, A General therory would be a doddle!! Defo on a day when kids have left you some brain space though!!
x

Waterlogged,
Liffey is right if you can handle Mindsight, General Theory is a walk in the park. I've done a lot of advanced reading (my T has told me that I am reading at a post-graduate level and that earlier in his career he might have felt quite threatened by having me as a client ) but I struggled badly with Mindsight and still haven't made it through.

Sometimes when reading books in this level I find it helps to just give myself permission to move on knowing I didn't understand some parts ( I remember distinctly doing so with Wallin's book which I found extremely valuable; my T and I used it a lot in our work.) I hope you give it another shot. But I'm a bit irrational about this book as it proved pivotal in my healing (not to mention my T read it because I told him about it which provided a sorely needed sense of my efficacy in the relationship at the time.) So I am sure you can manage to heal without actually reading this book.

AG

PS I have been away for a bit due to overtime and a vacation, so to the forums!

PPS. Liffey so glad you enjoyed the book and found it worthwhile!

Yeah, I'm used to the heavy duty reading (I'm a PhD candidate in a very very very tangentially related field). I'll put it down and pick it back up again. Thanks for the encouragement.

Mindsight is the book that has kept me going through this (horribly painful, often crazy-making) process.