A Pattern of Madness: Philosophical Foundations for a Theory of Madness Book

Author of many respected psychoanalytic works including Narcissism: A New Theory, Emotion and Spirit, Making of a Psychotherapist and The Spirit of Sanity, the distinguished psychoanalyst Neville Symington's latest book expands, refines and deepens what has become an ever more impressive, far-reaching and absorbing inquiry into the nature of madness and sanity.It is Symington's central contention that the core psychopathology of our times can be identified and designated as narcissism, although self-centredness, egoism or solipsism might serve equally well. Critical of psychiatry's mere symptomatology, and of much psychotherapeutic practice as superficial and sterile, the present volume probes compellingly into the narcissistic pattern in an effort to delineate its structure in all its complexity and thereby gain a measure of perspective and distance from this most intractable of psychic states.?A bold and fascinating discourse ! ! on the inner structure of madness. Symington's analysis of the polarity between narcissism and emotional freedom is highly original, and the clinical vignettes are lucid and striking.' -Anne Alvarez, PhD. Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist, Tavistock ClinicRead More