Maggie Scarf

Maggie Scarf writes compassionately about the arguments and entrenched (false) dichotomies that emerge in marriage and intimate partnerships. She argues that the root cause of unhappiness and anxiety in relationships is a self that hasn't yet been differentiated from it's original family, leading to confusion regarding how to be simultaneously autonomous and intimate. It's an excellent, illuminating book, and Scarf's examples from her personal practice are vivid and convincing.

It is pretty fascinating to think that your physical body holds the keys to unlocking mental trauma. By paying attention to your body's postures, tensions, aches, and pains, you could solve mysteries of the mind. Physical health could nurture mental health. Part memoir, part psychology is how I would describe Scarf's Secrets, Lies, Betrayals. She uses stories from both sides of the couch, so to speak; both as a patient and as a therapist, to illustrate the benefits of EMDR (Eye Movement show more Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapy. show less

explores the patterns of family misery and well-being. Shows how harmonious families differ from dysfunctional ones