Timeless Grandiosity and Eroticised Contempt

Michael Shoshani, Psy.D., MBA, a Fullbright scholar, is a senior clinical psychologist and a training and supervising psychoanalyst. He is the founding chair and a faculty member of The Tel Aviv Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis. He is a faculty member and supervisor at the New York University Postdoc Program for Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy, and an active member of the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsaA) and the International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA). For three decades, he has treated patients, taught students, and supervised clinicians. He has lectured for many years at Tel Aviv University and Bar Illan University, in the postgraduate programs of psychoanalytic psychotherapy, and has run workshops for many groups of professionals in Israel, the USA, Turkey, and Romania. His main interest is the clinical theories relating to the therapy and analysis of narcissistic and perverse character pathology, as well as in interdisciplinary studies in psychoanalysis, weaving clinical knowledge with philosophy, literature, and art. He is the author of the book Dare to be Human? A Psychoanalytic Journey, and has published numerous articles on these subjects.Batya Shoshani, PhD, a Fullbright scholar, is a training and supervising psychoanalyst and a professor of clinical social work at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (retired), with vast experience in teaching and supervision in social work, psychotherapy, and psychoanalysis. She is a founding member and the chair of the training committee at The Tel Aviv Institute for Contemporary Psychoanalysis. She has been a senior consultant for public services dealing with children, adolescents, battered women, and delinquent youth. She is interested in interdisciplinary studies in psychoanalysis, weaving clinical knowledge with philosophy, literature, and art. In addition, Batya has shown great interest in the particular theory and technique of perversions alongside Michael Shoshani, Psy.D., and has written numerous articles regarding these subjects.

'It is a mark of Michael and Batya Shoshani’s intellectual bravery that they have chosen to write a book about perversion, and to do so not by denying its controversiality but by insisting on the clinical relevance of this complicated term. [...] As two established psychoanalysts practicing in Israel, the authors bring a wealth of experience and case material to their discussion of perversion, making every effort to demonstrate that beneath the high-minded debates about moralistic theory are suffering patients who need the nosological specificity that the concept of perversion provides.'

• Foreword by Salman AkhtarAcknowledgments and permissionsAbout the authorsIntroductionPART INarcissistic-perverse constellations – clinical material and conceptualizationsCHAPTER ONEPsychic survival versus psychic freedom: reflections on Symington’s theory of narcissismCHAPTER TWOOn mother–son twisted coalition: a precursor of perverse psychic organizationCHAPTER THREEGreen eyes, crows and scorpions: envy in the contexts of neediness, separateness, and narcissismCHAPTER FOURDo I dare to be human? The perverse failure to mourn, to think, and to loveCHAPTER FIVEFear and shame in an Israeli psychoanalyst and his patient: lessons learned in times of warCHAPTER SIXThe impact of perverse character pathology on the transference–countertransference matrix of patient, therapist, and supervisorPART IIInterdisciplinary dialoguesCHAPTER SEVENBitter Moon: The interplay of life and death instinctsCHAPTER EIGHTWhen one plus one equals one: truth and blindness in the oedipal myth and the film IncendiesCHAPTER NINEBorges in my office: the analysis of a man dwelling outside of timeCHAPTER TENHeidegger and Freud – explorations into truth, anxiety, and deathReferencesIndex