Unimaginable Storms

Murray Jackson, a native of Australia, came to Britain in the 1950s to train at the Maudsley Hospital, where his interest in psychosomatic disorders and psychotic states led him to Jung's work in psychosis and training as an analytical psychologist. Further experience in child and adult psychiatry brought acquaintance with the work of Melanie Klein and to training in psychoanalysis. He was a Member of the British Psychoanalytical Society, a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, and a life Member of the Royal Society of Medicine. Paul Williams is a training and supervising analyst with The British Psychoanalytical Society and a member of the Royal Anthropological Institute. He was a consultant psychotherapist in the British National Health Service, retiring in 2010. From 2001-2007 he was Joint Editor-in-Chief, with Glen O. Gabbard, of the 'International Journal of Psychoanalysis'. He has published widely on the subject of severe disturbance. He lives and practises in Hampshire, UK.

'In this important book, written with his colleague Paul Williams, Murray Jackson illustrates methods of psychodynamic assessment and treatment with unique clarity by recorded interviews. The authors point the way towards developing optimal treatment procedures - multidisciplinary in the true sense. The implications for psychiatrists and health services are challengining. The routine treatment of schizophrenia entails rapid neuroleptisation, early discharge into the community and a strong likelihood of relapse, readmission and deteriation. Optimal treatment offers a better deal: suffering may be reduced, relapse rates lowered and the patient's quality of life is likely to be immeasurably enhanced.'- Professor Robert H. Cawley, Emeritus Professor of Psychological Medicine in the University of London'Jackson and Williams have undertaken a painstaking and in-depth research effort which is elegantly detailed in this work. The lay public, the mental health public, and future victims of schizophrenia are in their debt for the authors' convincing efforts. They have done for schizophrenics and other psychotics something similar to what was done in the Menninger Research Program for the Study of the Treatment of Borderline thirty years ago, which established the efficacy of psychoanalytically informed psychotherapy for these cases.'- James S. Grotstein'This book is an important and impressive description of an approach to the understanding and management of severely disturbed patients which incorporates the authors' psychoanalytic knowledge. The vivid and moving detailed descriptions of interviews with patients offers an unique insight into their experience, and an understanding of some of the powerful and disturbing underlying processes. We are indebted to Murray Jackson whose brave, intelligent, and humane approach to patients who are ill, frightened and confused, permeates the work presented here.'- Michael Feldman, Consultant Psychotherapist, Maudsley Hospital

• Foreword , Preface , Introduction , Paranoid schizophrenia: “the radio loves me” , Schizophrenic self-burning: which self? , Psychotic character: “a bit of an old rogue” , Catatonia 1: psychotic anorexia , Catatonia 2: imitation of Christ , Manic–depressive psychosis , The treatment setting , Integration