What People are Saying
In this fascinating book, Kirk Schneider—who has spent a distinguished career defending the core values of psychotherapists against dehumanizing pressures from an increasingly consumeristic, objectifying environment—helps readers find ways to survive and flourish in our stressful world. Instead of trying to soothe our fears that much is out of kilter in contemporary life, he suggests that if we are not anxious enough about the right problems, we risk being unequipped to address them. This provocative, brilliant, and paradoxically comforting book belongs in the library of anyone who cares about the fate of humanity.
Nancy McWilliams, PhD, ABPP, Distinguished Affiliate Faculty,
Rutgers Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology, author of Psychoanalytic Diagnosis and Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy
Life-Enhancing Anxiety challenges us to rethink our understanding of anxiety as something to be avoided or managed at all costs. Instead, Schneider urges us to consider the many ways this basic human emotion can help us grow, more fully engage with existence, and transform ourselves in ways that lead to more fulfilling lives. In his view, anxiety is inherently tied to the experience of awe, a transformative experience that has become harder to come by in the increasingly regimented and standardized lives most people live. This is a provocative thesis that integrates ideas from previous existential thinkers, empirical research, Schneider’s decades of experience as a psychotherapist, and his insightful contemplation of his own life trajectory. It isa stimulating and rewarding read that will be of great value to psychotherapists, scientists, and lay people alike.
Tom Pyszczynski, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Psychology, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs.
Co-author of The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Death in Life with Jeff Greenberg & Sheldon Solomon
In a world where any signs of discomfort are met with harshness to the point of total loss of tolerance for ambiguity, uneasiness, and disputation; and resilience has become a teachable skill rather than a natural and acquired fruit of life, Life-Enhancing Anxietyis a breath of fresh air. Schneider puts forward a solid argument based on empirical evidence, years of clinical work, and personal experience to remind us of the necessity of recognizing anxiety as a life force. He invites us to reconsider the existential roots of anxiety as a powerful mobilizer and not a paralyzer. The wisdom shared in this book should be enlightening for fellow mental health practitioners and their clients, community educators, and students.
Dr. Sara Nasserzadeh, Co-Founder of Relationship Panoramic Inc. & Senior Advisor to the United Nations
In a world mired in anxiety and fear, Professor Kirk Schneider presents a ground-breaking analysis of anxiety while examining the deeply rooted existential nature of human disturbances. Schneider beautifully and powerfully illustrates the inescapability of anxiety in the human condition and provides a rigorous model of psychological hardiness. Schneider’s life-enhancing anxiety goes beyond the reductionist models of anxiety and delves into the interplay of elements that create the anxiety-inducing paralysis in our social and cultural milieu. While celebrating the bridge between philosophy and psychology, Schneider elucidates the vitality of awe for a more transcendent, sagacious mode of being.
Sayyed Mohsen Fatemi, PhD, Adjunct Faculty, Department of Psychology, York University.
Author of The Psychology of Inner Peace, Film Therapy, and forthcoming, Therapeutic Applications of Langerian Mindfulness
One of the most common misconceptions about psychotherapy is that it helps us relieve anxiety. Yet, existentialist philosophers have always argued the contrary, that therapy should be employed to promote anxiety. In this timely and radical study, Kirk Schneider, one of the world’s leading existential therapists, once again regales us with his uncanny ability to ease us into truths that we all too often wish to avoid. In showing that anxiety is not our enemy but a friend that can potentially help us embrace life to the fullest, this remarkable book is destined to become a classic.
M. Guy Thompson, PhD, Founder and Director, New School for Existential Psychoanalysis; author, The Death of Desire: An Existential Study in Sanity and Madness; The Legacy of R. D. Laing: An Appraisal of his Contemporary Relevance
In this expansive text, Kirk Schneider probes life’s fundamental questions and takes the reader on a search for depth, meaning, connection, and love. He traverses key aspects of society and self to define what’s needed to heal divides in our cultures, politics, relationships, and selves. Drawing from our experiences with Covid, political divides, racial and economic injustice, armed conflicts at home and abroad, tensions over school curricula, climate change, and more, Schneider outlines how the psychology and science of anxiety are key to understanding and solving these problems. He even puts himself on the couch, with exquisite vulnerability. In an adept interplay of our most personal engagements with our sociocultural surround, Schneider illuminates how we can live amidst paradox, embrace anxiety, and transform suffering into growth. This is an essential read for those looking to understand our culture and our times and to create a life of deep meaning and purpose.
Linda Michaels, PsyD, MBA, Chair and Co-Founder, Psychotherapy Action Network (PsiAN) Psychologist, Consulting Editor of Psychoanalytic Inquiry, and Fellow of the Lauder Institute Global MBA program
Schneider offers a vital solution to addressing the epidemic of life-destroying anxiety plaguing our patients and clients. We desperately need a bigger picture of allaying anxiety than conventional psychology, pharmaceuticals, and avoidance through addiction to technology. Cultivation of life-enhancing anxiety is the paradigm shift to cultivate the capacities of love, creativity, humility, wonder, and a sense of adventure toward living—what Schneider calls “awe”—in the midst of so many unknowns. For humanity to thrive in our next chapter on Earth, we need this brilliant book to open a new door to embracing (and engaging with) Life-Enhancing Anxiety.
Michael Amster, MD, coauthor of The Power of Awe and researcher at the UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center
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