My life's work as a physician, psychiatrist, and alternative healer has been the investigation of social oppression, and how to block or reverse its effects. As a writer, I have created a series of books, therapies, and biotechnologies with this specific goal in mind, united under the series name: Freedom from Social Oppression.

"Individuation" is the third of four anthologies, or collection of narrative pieces, from my first book: "Hide and Play Dead." The organizing theme for this anthology is adult identity formation-and its corollary, individuation.

As in the original book, these true stories about my life history and ancestry are vivid, emotionally provocative, and unforgettable. They have been perceived as brilliant journalistic and social exposés, which are pregnant with meaning and, ultimately, uplifting.

To compose an anthology comprised of mostly previously published narratives and essays allows me, as an author, to transmit focused messages that are oftentimes lost in the original works. Along with these messages come distinct feeling tones, as the written word is filtered through the refractive prism of a distinct voice and laser-honed topic.

The challenge of forming a unique adult identity is very complicated, and it is the primary focus of most psychotherapy in America today. We inhabit a culture where shame, abuse, and trauma permeate all our major institutions-especially our childrearing and educational practices.

The belief that one's child is one's possession, given to us to mold and fashion to our liking, or to our own self-image, must be challenged. The prevalence of Narcissism is climbing exponentially among Americans, and it is insidious and rampant. This, among other factors, endangers the freedom of our youth to establish a unique and creative Self.

The other anthologies in this series center on the topics of establishing one's racial, sexual, and spiritual identity.
About the Author: Biosketch:
Michael Holloway King, M.D.

Michael King, MD, is a graduate of The Phillips Exeter Academy, Harvard College, and Harvard Medical School, and he has had over four decades of experience in both healthcare and communication skills. He has a long-standing love for the social and political sciences- especially bio-personality, consciousness, and neuropsychiatry. His vast cross-cultural work and international health experience prepared him to explore a global spectrum of human nature.

Dr. King specialized in mind-body psychotherapy in an alternative medicine practice spanning thirty years; he has also worked in virtually all aspects of conventional medicine.

He is currently an activist pioneer in social engineering, and the first physician to address the core emotion of shame and the effects of social oppression- to pinpoint their physical roots and invent treatment programs to resist them.

"It is time for the healer to emerge from behind the walls of clinical medicine and tackle the social milieu where illness is perpetuated. It is time for a new and revolutionary branch of medicine to take a stand against the primary source of human suffering in the world today."

Dr. King is an expert in writing technology, listening skills, and public speaking, so writing a multi-genre, memoir-driven novel, "Hide and Play Dead," came as naturally as his self-help format and literary activism in "Overcoming Oppression: Your Guide for a Journey to a New Life."

In addition to these two original, major works, the Freedom from Social Oppression book series now includes four anthologies, devoted sequentially to the topics of the creation of a unique racial, sexual, adult, and spiritual identity. Workbooks and professional guidebooks are forthcoming.

Michael currently has a private practice in psychotherapy and brain biotechnologies in the Palm Springs area of California, where he specializes in exciting new concepts for the field of medicine: shame desensitization, abuse recognition, trauma therapy, and anti-oppression training.

His treatment process is based on high-empathy, high-rapport, client-centered approaches, along with cognitive-behavioral and somatic therapies, and the development and clinical application of several emerging neuroscience technologies.