Gustav Mahler: A Life in Crisis by Stuart Feder
New Haven:Yale University Press, 2004. pp. viii+353.

Reviewed by Martin L. Nass, Ph.D. Clinical Professor of Psychology, New York University Postdoctoral Program in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy; Faculty, Training and Supervisory Analyst, New York Freudian Society; Professor Emeritus, Brooklyn College, City University of New York.

Stuart Feder, a man who has engaged in two successful careers, that of psychoanalyst and music scholar, has written a most readable and gripping biography of Gustav Mahler. He has portrayed Mahler in a most human light with all of his gifts, conflicts and struggles. In so doing, he has created a work that at times reads like a fascinating work of fiction. The book is a major contribution to Mahler studies and it is a significant addition to the field of psychoanalytic biography.

The book is subtitled, “A Life in Crisis” and deals with Mahler’s lifelong depression, mourning and preoccupation with death. In fact, to bring this into sharp focus, Feder begins the book with a quotation from Freud, (as quoted by Marie Bonaparte) regarding his experience around Mahler’s consultation with him in Holland. Mahler’s ambivalence about visiting Freud is expressed with good humor and forms a fulcrum around Mahler’s unhappiness, particularly in his last years. (Mahler died the year following his consultation with Freud). Feder skillfully reconstructs the essence of the consultation and describes it with compassion and good clinical understanding. He uses unpublished material from the diary of Marie Bonaparte to document Freud’s account of the meeting.

“The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science” is the title of a book by Norman Doidge about the current revolution in neuroscience reviewed in today’s The New York Times by Abigail Zuger, M.D. “The credo of this revolution is neuroplasticity — the discovery that the human brain is as malleable as a lump of wet clay not only in infancy, as scientists have long known, but well into hoary old age.

Take note of third from last paragraph:

For neuroplasticity may prove a curse as well. The brain can think itself into ruts, with electrical habits as difficult to eradicate as if it were, in fact, the immutable machine of yore. Sometimes “roadblocks” can be created to help steer its activity back in the desired direction (like bandaging the stroke patient’s good arm). Sometimes rewiring the circuits requires hard cerebral work instead; Dr. Doidge cites the successful Freudian analysis of one of his patients.

Gregory T. Lombardo’s “Understanding the Mind of Your Bipolar Child” was reviewed in Psychiatric Times (May 01, 2007 Vol. 24 No. 6). Reviewer Amy E. West concludes:

This book is highly recommended as an excellent resource for parents of patients and for health care professionals who work with children and families affected by bipolar disorder. In particular, the book will benefit those who want to understand the disorder’s emergence within a comprehensive developmental framework.