Mental Handicap and the Human Condition: New Approaches from the Tavistock

"This book has been extremely helpful to me in coming to understand the emotional world of someone with a learning disability, and how psychotherapy may be of help to deal with the emotional impact of being different from the norm in this way.
Sinason has some very interesting ideas. She starts off with a discussion of euphemism in language and argues that terminology keeps changing to try to avoid the pain of the real difference. (It is for this reason that she uses the term mental handicap in her book rather than learning disability). She also suggests that we all have parts of ourselves that can't think, and that even people with very profound disabilities can have moments of clear intelligence. She examines the tendency that many people with learning disabilities have to pretend to be happy.
Her case studies are complexand deeply moving. I would recommend this book to anyone who has a genuine interest in the experience of learning disability from a personal and/or a professional perspective!"
~ Written on 2004-06-20

"Sinasun helps to put people with a learning disability on the map at last. Psychodynamic practice has slowly begun to evolve and include people who have a learning disability and Sinasun shows us both theoretically and practically how this makes sense in reality by sharing her case scenarios and real-time experience.

This is a book that explores some of the unspoken fears that people with a learning disability and their families carry from birth.

Sinasun's case examples show development through sessions and give a real insight into the still often unshared internal worlds of people.

A refreshing and still groundbreaking book for all those interested in psychodynamics in this field. The only points the book loses are because of it's age.

More books like this please!"
~ Written on 2003-09-30