Episodes

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01Stephen Grosz, The Examined Life2013010720130108 (R4)The world bedevils us. To make sense of it, we tell ourselves stories. In a series of short, vivid, dramatic tales, using psychoanalytic insight without psychoanalytic jargon, The Examined Life tracks the collaborative journey of therapist and patient as they uncover the hidden feelings behind apparently ordinary behaviour patterns.

Written with precision and insight, these case studies are all based on actual people. While factually true, they demonstrate a novelist's sense of an ending and empathetic understanding of the subterfuges of the human mind.

In his work as a practising psychoanalyst, Stephen Grosz has spent the last twenty-five years uncovering the hidden feelings behind our most baffling behaviour. The Examined Life distils over 50,000 hours of conversation into pure psychological insight, without the jargon.

This extraordinary book is about one ordinary process: talking, listening and understanding. Its aphoristic and elegant stories teach us a new kind of attentiveness. They also unveil a delicate self-portrait of the analyst at work, and show how lessons learned in the consulting room can reveal as much to him as to the patient.

Episode 1 of 5

Stephen Grosz has been studying and working as a psychoanalyst in the UK for over twenty-five years. From over 50,000 hours of conversation he distils a series of true stories about the hidden feelings behind our most baffling behaviour. In the first of these he recounts an early experience when a patient's actions were unpredictable and shocking.

Read by Peter Marinker

A Waters Partnership production for BBC Radio 4.

Psychoanalyst Stephen Grosz recounts an early patient's unpredictable and shocking actions

02Stephen Grosz, The Examined Life2013010920130108 (R4)The world bedevils us. To make sense of it, we tell ourselves stories. In a series of short, vivid, dramatic tales, using psychoanalytic insight without psychoanalytic jargon, The Examined Life tracks the collaborative journey of therapist and patient as they uncover the hidden feelings behind apparently ordinary behaviour patterns.

Written with precision and insight, these case studies are all based on actual people. While factually true, they demonstrate a novelist's sense of an ending and empathetic understanding of the subterfuges of the human mind.

In his work as a practising psychoanalyst, Stephen Grosz has spent the last twenty-five years uncovering the hidden feelings behind our most baffling behaviour. The Examined Life distils over 50,000 hours of conversation into pure psychological insight, without the jargon.

This extraordinary book is about one ordinary process: talking, listening and understanding. Its aphoristic and elegant stories teach us a new kind of attentiveness. They also unveil a delicate self-portrait of the analyst at work, and show how lessons learned in the consulting room can reveal as much to him as to the patient.

Episode 2 of 5:

Continuing his series of true stories from the analyst's consulting room, Stephen Grosz examines secrets and the ways that people can protect themselves with lies and bluster.

Read by Peter Marinker

A Waters Partnership production for BBC Radio 4.

Stephen Grosz examines the ways that people protect themselves with lies and bluster.

03Stephen Grosz, The Examined Life2013010920130110 (R4)The world bedevils us. To make sense of it, we tell ourselves stories. In a series of short, vivid, dramatic tales, using psychoanalytic insight without psychoanalytic jargon, The Examined Life tracks the collaborative journey of therapist and patient as they uncover the hidden feelings behind apparently ordinary behaviour patterns.

Written with precision and insight, these case studies are all based on actual people. While factually true, they demonstrate a novelist's sense of an ending and empathetic understanding of the subterfuges of the human mind.

In his work as a practising psychoanalyst, Stephen Grosz has spent the last twenty-five years uncovering the hidden feelings behind our most baffling behaviour. The Examined Life distils over 50,000 hours of conversation into pure psychological insight, without the jargon.

This extraordinary book is about one ordinary process: talking, listening and understanding. Its aphoristic and elegant stories teach us a new kind of attentiveness. They also unveil a delicate self-portrait of the analyst at work, and show how lessons learned in the consulting room can reveal as much to him as to the patient.

Episode 3 of 5:

We make stories to make sense of our lives. But it is not enough to tell tales. There must be someone to listen. Analyst Stephen Grosz recounts a session with a patient who revealed his inner life over the phone with a meticulous description of his house.

Read by Peter Marinker

A Waters Partnership production for BBC Radio 4.

Stephen Grosz on the patient who revealed his inner life over the telephone.

04Stephen Grosz, The Examined Life2013011020130111 (R4)The world bedevils us. To make sense of it, we tell ourselves stories. In a series of short, vivid, dramatic tales, using psychoanalytic insight without psychoanalytic jargon, The Examined Life tracks the collaborative journey of therapist and patient as they uncover the hidden feelings behind apparently ordinary behaviour patterns.

Written with precision and insight, these case studies are all based on actual people. While factually true, they demonstrate a novelist's sense of an ending and empathetic understanding of the subterfuges of the human mind.

In his work as a practising psychoanalyst, Stephen Grosz has spent the last twenty-five years uncovering the hidden feelings behind our most baffling behaviour. The Examined Life distils over 50,000 hours of conversation into pure psychological insight, without the jargon.

This extraordinary book is about one ordinary process: talking, listening and understanding. Its aphoristic and elegant stories teach us a new kind of attentiveness. They also unveil a delicate self-portrait of the analyst at work, and show how lessons learned in the consulting room can reveal as much to him as to the patient.

Episode 4 of 5:

The collaborative conversations of the psychoanalyst, Stephen Grosz, and his patients as they excavate the hidden feelings behind the stories we tell about ourselves.

Read by Peter Marinker

A Waters Partnership production for BBC Radio 4.

Stephen Grosz recounts a girl's issues over being a middle child in her family.

05 LAST2013011120130112 (R4)The world bedevils us. To make sense of it, we tell ourselves stories. In a series of short, vivid, dramatic tales, using psychoanalytic insight without psychoanalytic jargon, The Examined Life tracks the collaborative journey of therapist and patient as they uncover the hidden feelings behind apparently ordinary behaviour patterns.

Written with precision and insight, these case studies are all based on actual people. While factually true, they demonstrate a novelist's sense of an ending and empathetic understanding of the subterfuges of the human mind.

In his work as a practising psychoanalyst, Stephen Grosz has spent the last twenty-five years uncovering the hidden feelings behind our most baffling behaviour. The Examined Life distils over 50,000 hours of conversation into pure psychological insight, without the jargon.

This extraordinary book is about one ordinary process: talking, listening and understanding. Its aphoristic and elegant stories teach us a new kind of attentiveness. They also unveil a delicate self-portrait of the analyst at work, and show how lessons learned in the consulting room can reveal as much to him as to the patient.

Episode 5 of 5:

Analysts don't always have all the answers, sometimes they have questions and sometimes they have dreams. Stephen Grosz examines his own night time anxieties.

Read by Peter Marinker

Abridged and produced by Jane Waters

A Waters Partnership production for BBC Radio 4.

Psychoanalyst Stephen Grosz examines his own night-time anxieties.