Description: For readers of Irving Yalom, Esther Perel, and Oliver Sacks, a profound and deeply affecting new book by psychoanalyst and internationally bestselling author Dr. Galit Atlas that reveals how our childhood wounds hold the key to understanding our adult relationships.
What is the secret of emotional intimacy? How can understanding our childhood experiences give us the insights we need to be close to others in a truly satisfying, longer-lasting, and more meaningful way? In Come Closer, Galit Atlas invites us inside the private lives of her patients--and into her own--to offer new, life-changing answers to these important questions. Atlas has identified six child archetypes--the frightened child, the melancholic child, the ashamed child, the invisible child, the guilty child, and the chosen child--and in these pages, she shows how each childhood wound plays out in our adult relationships. In remarkably compelling and dramatic stories of both therapist and patient, Atlas illustrates how the child within us drives our love lives, forming patterns we repeat without awareness. Each narrative will have you on the edge of your seat, living the mystery alongside Atlas and her patients, uncovering roots, drawing parallels, and reaching insights and revelations, just as they do. No one who reads this eye-opening book will ever see their relationships--or themselves--the same way again.Brief description: Dr. Galit Atlas is an internationally renowned psychoanalyst recognized for her rethinking of the place of sexuality and desire in contemporary theory and practice. She is on the faculty of the New York University postdoctoral program in psychotherapy and psychoanalysis, and teaches at the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research. A leader in the field of relational psychoanalysis, Atlas teaches and lectures throughout the United States and internationally and is a recipient of the Gradiva Award, the Nautilus Book Award, and the NADTA Research Award. Atlas's book, Emotional Inheritance, was an international bestseller. Her work has been translated into twenty-nine languages.
Review Quotes: "With a rare combination of intellectual rigor and a powerful sense of intimacy, Galit Atlas beckons us into the inner worlds of her patients, as well as into her own world as a psychoanalyst, and illuminates the ways in which our childhood wounds shape our relationships. I dare anyone not to find herself within the pages of this beautiful book. Come Closer is a masterwork by one of the great thinkers of our time." --Dani Shapiro, New York Times bestselling author of Inheritance
"Come Closer is a profound examination of how the children we once were shape the people we become. With uncommon clarity and compassion, Galit Atlas traces the unseen forces--early wounds, buried longings, inherited ghosts--that govern our adult relationships. Drawing on vivid clinical stories, she reveals how intimacy is always a dialogue between past and present, between the selves we know and the ones we've learned to hide. This is a wise, lucid, and deeply humane book, offering readers genuine hope for how love can be repaired and transformed." --Meghan O'Rourke, bestselling author of The Invisible Kingdom "A deliriously smart and empathetic book that makes a match between the way you love and the way you were loved: sparks ensue." --Joshua Cohen, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Netanyahus "Come Closer is an intelligent, wise, deeply compassionate investigation of the ways we play out patterns of emotional injuries in our closest relationships. Dr. Galit Atlas writes beautifully about how the therapeutic process changes not only her patients, but her own ways of connecting and loving. This book is an invaluable traveling companion for anyone exploring the territory of love, intimacy, and human interconnection." --Martha Beck, New York Times bestselling author of Beyond Anxiety "Galit Atlas writes with extraordinary emotional immediacy. We feel drawn into the room with her and her patient. Her clinical stories are intimate and deeply moving. Atlas helps us understand so much more about how our early experiences continue to echo in our adult relationships. Come Closer is an outstanding book." --Beatrice Beebe, PhD, Clinical Professor, Columbia Univ. Medical Center; NYS Psychiatric Institute "Come Closer is an extraordinary work of storytelling and hope. Galit Atlas invites us to understand and heal our own inner children by drawing us close to her beloved patients, her personal experiences, and her astute perspectives on our relational encounters. I found profound inspiration and insights on every single page of this book." --Eli Harwood, Therapist, Creator of Attachment Nerd and author of How to Deal with Your _ So Your Kids Don't Have to: An Encyclopedia For Ditching Your Emotional Baggage"A revelatory work of psychoanalysis from one of the most original thinkers in the field. Galit Atlas gives us new ways of understanding why, despite our greatest efforts, we often fail to connect with the people we love, and shows how we can get closer as well. This book is a gift." --Eric Klinenberg, Helen Gould Shepard Professor in the Social Sciences, New York University "In Come Closer, Dr. Galit Atlas invites us into the tender, complicated terrain where childhood wounds meet adult love. Through personal vulnerability and storytelling that draws us into the secret emotional lives we all carry, her clinical mastery feels fresh and accessible on every page. This is not a book that preaches about intimacy; it embodies it, reminding us that coming closer to another always begins with coming closer to ourselves." --Dr. Ingrid Clayton, author of Fawning "Come Closer is a stunning read--Dr. Galit Atlas deftly threads the needle of self-compassion with therapeutic wisdom and vulnerability. She brings us into the intimate world of therapy, her own profound loss, and the richness of her client's inner worlds. I loved this book and finished it feeling more hopeful for myself, my clients, and all of us that carry childhood wounds that continue to visit us with haunting regularity." --Ramani Durvasula, Ph.D., Psychologist and New York Times bestselling author of It's Not You: Identifying and Healing from Narcissistic People "A remarkable piece of writing, riveting and disquieting in equal measure." --Adam Phillips, psychoanalyst and author of Missing Out: In Praise of the Unlived Life