Vulnerability Protected started with the notion that while vulnerability is central to our capacity for empathy and caring, it was being advertised as something smoother and more easily manageable than it is. The uses and misuses of vulnerability—the fear and loathing of it as well—became central to the book’s writing.
Psychotherapist Carol Smaldino explores the personal, the political, and the cultural contexts of vulnerability and its pitfalls, and the intertwining of all three arenas. She takes, unhesitantly, from her own background of personal trauma, where nobody comes out unscathed, and where, still, there is an underpinning of compassion and empathy for all our parts.
Both analysis and stories fill these pages, and the reader is helped to approach their own vulnerability with greater respect for its fragility and its need for safety.
The politics of our time are not avoided. Instead, we are helped to understand how our hatred and shame in the face of our imperfections can lead to the worship of the charismatic would-be king. Smaldino helps us locate ourselves, while she resists the seduction and the adrenaline rush of insisting on blame alone.
Vulnerability Protected encourages the reader to find inspiration in personal healing. It also helps the reader recognize the importance of safety when vulnerability is present or nearby. Additionally, it shows when we need to protect ourselves from the potential dangers of vulnerability.
Smaldino’s book is for anyone drawn to investigate vulnerability’s crucial role and our need to treat it, and ourselves, with dignity.
Coming Soon
The Human Climate starts with this idea: We are divided on the inside and on the outside—where we live, love, hate, or are frozen in fear. Unless we come to know our emotions better than we do, they will continue to control us.
In this small yet provocative book, psychotherapist Carol Smaldino connects the personal with the political, the past with the present, and the individual with the global.
She explores the human climate, a term she refers to as encompassing culture, assumptions, rules, mood, and the atmosphere of a given time and place. She sees addressing these elements as indispensable if we are to effectively resolve divisions related to social and global issues, and, our most intimate relationships.
Smaldino shares clinical experiences, her own stories, and provides insightful reflections.
The Human Climate offers us a way to face our shadows – places where we hide and try to bury (unconsciously) the parts of ourselves that we dislike. If we don’t face and integrate our difficult emotions, we continue to demonize other nations, other people – even those we love and marry. In working through our resistance to change, we have the chance to access compassion and empathy.