Machine generated contents note: Acknowledgments
Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1: The Rapture of Falling, Dying, and Being Born Again
The Manic Defense
The Ineffable Nature of Ecstasy
Some Thoughts about Ecstasy
After the Ecstasy Comes the Laundry
Ecstasy as an Altered State
The Author's Interest in Ecstasy
The Sixties and Ecstasy
Needing to Get Out of Our Own Skin
To Heaven or Hell for Ecstasy
The Spectrum of Normal and Ecstasy
Chapter 2: Altered States of Consciousness
Consciousness and the Self
What is an Altered State?
Dissociative States
The History of Altered States in Psychoanalysis
Altered States can Enrich our Lives
Chapter 3: The Brain and Altered States of Consciousness
Ecstasies of Hysteria
Freud's Victorian Ladies Suffering from Hysteria
Hysteria and Dissociation
Fainting, Swooning, and Seizures
Atiques de Nervois and Other Ecstasies
The Remarkable, Impressionable Human Brain
Attachment and the Brain
The Brain's Plasticity
Sensitization, Kindling, and Addiction
Trauma and Altered States of Consciousness
The Third Eye and Altered States of Consciousness
The Brain and Ecstasy
Out of Body Experiences
Near-Death Experiences
Religion, Spirituality, and Ecstasy
Orgasm and Ecstasy
The Brain During Ecstasy
I Can't Get No Satisfaction
Chapter 4: The Sixties: Something is Happening Here
The Legacy of the Sixties
Life Should be Ecstasy
Generations X and Y
The Culture of Narcissism
Like a Motherless Child
Neglected and Unprotected
Group Initiation Rites and Ecstasy
When Life Becomes Ecstasy
Chapter 5: Marketing and Producing Ecstasy
A Separate Reality
Pharmaceutical Paradise
Marketing Religious Ecstasy
Chapter 6: Cult-Induced Ecstasy and Psychosis
Extreme Altered States
You Create Your Own Reality
Est, Also Known as The Forum and Landmark Forum: It Is What It Is
Cults, Motivational Seminars, and the Human Potential Movement
Snapping and Ecstasy
What Psychotherapists Treating Cult-Involved Patients Need to Know
Cults and the Consciousness Explosion
Ecstasies of Cosmic Consciousness
The Transcendental Meditation Vision of Possibilities
Soul Murder
She Saw Me Glowing, Just Like Freedom, Her Guru


Chapter 7: Ecstasies of Pain and Near-Death Experiences
Bob Flanagan: Super-Masochist
The Nature of Pain
Ritualistic Violence in Music and Dance
Sadomasochism
Playing with Death and Resurrection
To Humiliate and to be Humiliated
Playing with Death Through Starving, Purging, and Mutilating the Self
Initiation into the Tribe
Body Modifications
Needle Freaks, Piercing Junkies, and Tattoo Addicts
Our Cultural Obsession with Skin
The Tribe of Lambs Who Lay Down for the Slaughter
Bodily Self-Harm, Body Modifications, and Suicidality
Beware the Gurus and Shamans of Pain
Raellyn Gallina, Queen of Blood Sports
Fakir Musafar
Chapter 8: Religious Ecstasies
Sri Ramakrishna's Ecstasies
Sacred Erotica and Ecstatic Seizures
Ecstatic Stigmatics and Holy Anorexics
Born-Again Ecstasies
Speaking Tongues and Snake Handling Ecstasies
The Spiritual Ecstasies of Generations X and Y
The Oceanic Experience: Riding the Waves or Going Under?
Without the Darkness there is no Light
Crossing the Border
The Hunger for Spirituality
What is The Sacred?
Chapter 9: Killing, Cannibalism, and Other Ecstasies from Hell
An Ancient Taboo in Modern Times
I Am a Cannibal
Human Sacrifice and the Demon God
The Ecstasies of Hitler's Willing Executioners
The Ecstasies of the Suicide Bombers
Jailhouse Conversions
The Ecstasies of a Born-Again Killer
Chapter 10: Creative Ecstasies
The Nature of Creativity
Theories of Creativity
The Drive to Write
The Compulsion to Write and Endlessly Write
Mental Illness, Addiction, Epilepsy and Creativity
Creativity in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis
Our Best Creative Minds Speak Out About Their Own Mental Illness
Creative Writing of Scientific Prose
Chapter 11: Intervening with Those Hungry for Ecstasy
Resilience can Surprise You
Problems in Self-Care
The Crux of the Matter
Sex Produces Orgasms; Perversions Produce Ecstasy
Preventive Interventions
The Holistic Inquiry
Alcoholism, Compulsive Eating and Bipolar Disorder
Self-Mutilation: Nothing to Get so Cut Up About
Goth Culture
Huffing, Sniffing, Dusting, and Bagging
Dear Abby, My Sister Plays the Choking Game and I'm Worried
Summing Up
Chapter 12: Power of the Therapist's Affective Experience
An Integrated Approach to Treatment
Rising to the Challenge
Attunement and Attachment-Based Psychotherapy
The Therapist as Tuning Fork: Revisiting the Concepts of Neutrality, Abstinence, and Anonymity
The Dissociative Response as a Form of Communication
Projective Identifications and Enactments
Passion: A Peculiar Kind of Love
Intuition and Improvisation
Walking About: In Dream Time, Following a Trail of Breadcrumbs
The Ecstasy of Oneness and the Rage of Twoness
Hope is the Thing with Feathers
References
Index
About the Author.