Torment Me, But Don't Abandon Me

Torment Me, But Don't Abandon Me: Psychoanalysis of the Severe Neuroses in a New Key offers analysts and psychodynamic therapists an innovative way of understanding the theoretical intersection of masochism, perversion, shame, guilt, narcissism substance abuse. This constellation of psychopathology frequently is seen in clinical practice and often proves to be a difficult personality organization to treat. While Dr. Wurmser relies on elements of classical analysis to construct his theoretical framework (including a theoretical and clinical analysis of super ego analysis), he incorporates contemporary relational and intersubjective perspectives understanding that the analyst's involvement of the 'self' is critical for the successful treatment of the serious neuroses.

ISBN 0765704692   Pages 342 ISBN13 9780765704696 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher Jason Aronson Inc. Publishers   Weight (grammes) 494 Imprint Jason Aronson Inc. Publishers   Published in Northvale NJ Format Paperback   Height (mm) 229 Publication date 26 Apr 2007   Width (mm) 154 Library of Congress 2006048034   Spine width (mm) 22 DEWEY 616.8917   Academic level General DEWEY edition DC21

1		Sleeping giant or fossil?		15
2		"The wall of stone" - broken self and broken reality		43
3		Character perversion		91
4		The way from Ithaca to Golgatha - the analysis of a masochistic sexual and character perversion		109
5		Superego as herald of resentment		157
6		Tragic character and the devastating power of absoluteness		177
7		"The envy of the all-powerful goddess" and womb envy - some basic equations		215
8		The core fantasies - "from abyss to abyss"		267
9		Technique and relationship in the treatment of the severe neuroses		289

This book pulls into focus the internal meanings of conflict, including the variety of conflicts within the superego, conflicts among ideals of the self, internal loyalty conflicts, etc. Thus, the analysand's attitudes towards conflict itself can be approached with Buber's I-Thou relationship rather than his I-It relationship, which makes analytic work essentially a humanistic enterprise having to do with respect for human suffering. -- Benjamin Kilborne, Ph.D., author, Disappearing Persons: Shame and Appearance; training and supervising analyst, International Psychoanalytic Association This book is a marvelous and comprehensive synthesis of many strands in psychoanalysis. In this work, destined to become a classic, Dr. Wurmser enables us to learn from his multi-faceted and deep training, reading, and experience. The reader will finish this book seeing connections between clinical work, literature, and religion that are startling in their freshness and originality. And, in what is perhaps the greatest legacy of this book, the reader will find himself filled with renewed excitement and vigor about the promise and power of psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic thinking. -- Everett Siegel, M.D., assistant professor in psychiatry, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine; director, Student Mental Health; medical director, Faculty Dr. Wurmser has written a marvelous book, full of wisdom, steeped in a life of compassionate psychoanalytic practice and passionate scholarship. With classical analytic theory and practice bred in his bones, he is steeped in modern psychoanalysis, philosophy, science and literature. But at the heart of this gem of a book is the deep understanding of his patients. His unfolding analytic narratives grip the reader as he describes the encounter of two people engaged to transform the deadening constraints of pain and trauma, to give birth to new vitality, to humanize deadness and to connect patients' efforts to survive to the fears they have suffered. We watch in awe as analysis breathes vitality into their dreams, endeavors, relationships and futures. This is a book to inspire the veteran therapist and the inexperienced analytic aspirant alike. -- David E. Scharff M.D., director, International Psychotherapy Institute, Chevy Chase, Maryland Leon Wurmser combines incredible erudition and knowledge of the psychoanalytic literature with a dedication to clinical work. Moreover, he is willing to tackle the most difficult patient problems with hope and enthusiasm that can inspire the reader to do the same. -- Joseph D. Lichtenberg, M.D., editor-in-chief, Psychoanalytic Inquiry; author, Craft and Spirit: A Guide to the Exploratory Psychotherapies This book is destined to be a classic. Leon Wurmser gives strong clinical and theoretical evidence for the feasibility of psychoanalyzing patients with severe neuroses, patients believed by still too many to be un-analyzable. He does so with sound clinical acumen, explanation, and remarkable scholarship. A unique contribution, this book offers the reader the thoughts of a brilliant clinician and theoretician who spent decades of his professional life on the questions the book addresses. It is a rich interweaving of psychoanalytic thought and practice with literary, philosophical, and Talmudic thought regarding the questions of morality, conscience, guilt and shame, bringing these to bear on furthering our understanding of the torturing clinical problems they inflict on so many humans. -- Henri Parens, M.D., professor of psychiatry, Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, PA; training and supervising analyst (adult and child), Psycho This book is destined to be a classic. Leon Wurmser gives strong clinical and theoretical evidence for the feasibility of psychoanalyzing patients with "severe neuroses," patients believed by still too many to be "un-analyzable." He does so with sound clinical acumen, explanation, and remarkable scholarship. A unique contribution, this book offers the read

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