Links to Online Reviews

What People Are Saying About My Mother, My Mirror

"In her practice, therapist Fuerstein has found that many of her female clients' core problems center on a negative body image and that this distortion was handed down by their mothers, grandmothers, and so forth. Readers learn how to rid themselves of this problem, as Fuerstein amasses research, case studies, and sound psychological concepts. An excellent addition to women's studies or psychology collections."
—Library Journal
"To every daughter and every mother of a daughter, My Mother, My Mirror offers a fresh look at the feelings of inadequacy so common in women.  Few self-help books contain the intellectual and clinical sophistication informing this lively, readable work. Laura Arens Fuerstein translates the jargon of contemporary psychoanalysis and psychological science into images and metaphors that resonate poignantly with deeply felt female experience. She is frank about the painful consequences of our mothers' (and their mothers') limitations, yet never descends into mother-blaming. With this contribution, her therapeutic skills reach far beyond her clinical office and give readers new opportunities to grow into their best selves."
—Nancy McWilliams, Ph.D., Professor, Rutgers Graduate School of Applied & Professional Psychology
"No Guys… you don’t need to be a sensitive metro-sexual to read, learn from, and enjoy Dr. Laura Arens Fuerstein’s, My Mother My Mirror. Don’t let the cover fool you. The best way for men to gain a better understanding of the women they love is to try to understand what these women are trying to understand about themselves. Read it men – even if you have to put it inside a brown paper book cover. You will be amazed." —Rafael Guber
Co-Creator - Finding Our Families Finding Ourselves - The Museum of Tolerance, Los Angeles. Guber’s work has appeared in The New York Times, Barrons, Newsweek, The LA Times, and The Oprah Winfey Show.
"A valuable resource for both the lay audience and clinicians alike, My Mother, My Mirror offers a thoughtful and engaging perspective on mother-daughter relationships in all of their complexity…She is a compelling storyteller, and her examples, drawn not only from her clinical work but from works of fiction, biographies, memoirs, fairy tales and mythology…bring theory to life. Notably, while seeking to help readers understand and acknowledge their inherited self-images, she refrains from blaming mothers, and ultimately helps to promote a freer and more authentic sense of self." —Melinda Parisi, Ph.D., Program Director
University Medical Center at Princeton Eating Disorders Program
“As a breast surgeon, I have a privileged window into women’s body related self-images, and get a very good idea of their inner strengths. As Laura Arens Fuerstein writes, the overemphasis placed on female beauty is partly attributed to our culture’s focus on youth and glamour, but its deepest causes often lie in our mothers’ distorted views of themselves that they unwittingly pass on to their daughters. My Mother, My Mirror is a highly engaging book that offers women a clear and unique approach to shedding the emotional baggage that maintains these distorted views.” —Alisan Goldfarb, MD, Mount Sinai School of Medicine Department of Surgery, in New York City
“In My Mother, My Mirror, Laura Arens Fuerstein uses her long experience as an analytic clinician and teacher of psychotherapy to take us on a deep journey into the self-image…The book is groundbreaking in its ability to show how to lift the female guilt trip that often accompanies mother-daughter/self-help books, while at the same time helping us grow through facing anger, preserving love and avoiding blame." —Susan Gutwill, MSW, psychotherapist and member of the
board and teaching staff of the Women’s Therapy Center in New York City