title: Total exertion: zen, psychoanalysis, life.
abstract: This paper integrates Zen and psychoanalytic concepts; introduces the Zen concept of total exertion; elaborates the profound implications that the notion of total exertion has for the psychoanalytic encounter and the psychotherapist's capacity for maintaining an optimal attentional stance; addresses anxiety-driven interferences to both the psychoanalytic process and deepened Zen practice. Clinical vignettes, personal experiences, poetry and psychoanalytic theory serve to demonstrate the abstract aspects of the discussion.
authors.affiliation: National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis, Institute for Expressive Analysis, New York, NY, USA. pshaku@aol.com
authors.forename: Paul C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Cooper
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D019122:Meditation; D011574:Psychoanalytic Theory; D012069:Religion and Psychology