Exploring and Treating Acquisitive Desire

Jeffrey A. Kottler is one of the most prolific authors in the fields of counseling, psychotherapy, and education, having written more than 90 books about a wide range of subjects. He has authored a dozen texts for counselors and therapists that are used in universities around the world and a dozen books each for practicing therapists and educators. Some of his most highly regarded works include Creative Breakthroughs in Therapy, The Mummy at the Dining Room Table: Eminent Therapists Reveal Their Most Unusual Cases and What They Teach Us About Human Behavior, Bad Therapy, The Client Who Changed Me, Divine Madness, Change: What Leads to Personal Transformation, Stories We’ve Heard, Stories We’ve Told: Life-Changing Narratives in Therapy and Everyday Life, and Therapy Over 50. He has been an educator for 40 years, having worked as a teacher, counselor, and therapist in preschool, middle school, mental health center, crisis center, nongovernmental organization, university, community college, private practice, and disaster relief settings. He has served as a Fulbright scholar and senior lecturer in Peru and Iceland, as well as worked as a visiting professor in New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Nepal. He is professor of counseling at California State University, Fullerton.

• PART ONE: CONCEPTUAL BACKGROUNDSocial Disease and Professional UneaseImage and IdentityThe Meaning of PossessionsConsequences of ConsumerismPART TWO: DISORDERS OF EXCESSGreedEmptiness and MeaninglessnessCompulsive Shopping and HoardingThe Privileged and SuccessfulPART THREE: TREATMENT ISSUESInterventions - with Hal StevensRitual AcquisitionsAlternative LifestylesReflective ActivitiesTherapist Desires