Prologue to Violence: Child Abuse, Dissociation, and Crime

ISBN-13: 9781138005808 / Angielski / Miękka / 2014 / 166 str.

Abby Stein;¬Abar;¬Abar

Opis

Despite mounting references to the "transgenerational transmission of violence," we still lack a compelling understanding of the linkage between the interpersonal violence of early life and the criminal violence of adulthood. In Prologue to Violence, Abby Stein draws on the gripping narratives of 65 incarcerated subjects and extensive material from law enforcement files to remedy this lacuna in both the forensic and psychodynamic literature. In the process, she calls into question prevailing beliefs about criminal character and motivation. For Stein the early trauma to which adult criminals are subjected remains unformulated and, as such, unavailable for reflection. Contrary to common belief, these criminals, especially sex murderers, do not commit their crimes in a rational or fully conscious way. They are not driven by deviant fantasy, their psychopathy is not inborn, and they rarely commit acts of violence "without conscience."

Stein s interdisciplinary analysis of her data infuses contemporary relational psychoanalysis with the insights of neuroscience, traumatology, criminology, and cognitive and narrative psychology. A powerful challenge to offender treatment programs to address the shaping impact of childhood trauma rather than merely to "correct" the cognitions of violent offenders, Prologue to Violence will be equally compelling to researchers and academics investigating child abuse and adult violence. Its mental health readership will be broad and deep, ranging beyond clinicians who work with offender populations to all therapists who wrestle with experiences of dissociation and aggressive enactment in everyday life. "

Recenzje

"In writing a book linking crime and dissociation, Stein has give us a work that is at once poetic and integrative, rich in its psychodynamic grasp of violent criminals' disturbing interior. At the same time, her work provides an exhaustive and critical review of existent literature in forensics, social psychology, and other related fields. Stein's approach to this knotty problem is broad, complex, and deep. In a time of global violence, it is an important study."

- Sue Grand, Ph.D.

Faculty and Supervisor NYU Program in Psychoanalysis

"Prologue to Violence is unique in what it tells us about the phenomenon of dissociation.  Abby Stein combines close clinical study with sensitive and thorough exploration of psychoanalytic and psychiatric literature.  Her observations on the dissociation of the criminal perpetrator are, I believe, consistent with what occurs in those engaged in mass killing.  This is a book that offers much illumination for our continuous societal struggles with the forces of violence and destruction."

- Robert Jay Lifton, M.D.

Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Harvard Medical School

Spis treści

Stern, Foreword. Preface. Who Me? Locating Agency in Violent Narratives. Slippery Characters: Methods and Sources. Conversing With Mutes. Criminals' Bad Luck. Maximum Perversion. Dreaming While Awake. Conclusion: Consciousness, Culpability, and Control. References. Acknowledgements.
 

O autorze

The author of numerous articles on criminal psychopathology, child abuse and neglect, and states of consciousness during acts of violence, Abby Stein, Ph.D., is Adjunct Associate Professor in the Inter-disciplinary Studies Program of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice of the City of New York. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the William Alanson White Institute of Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis, and Psychology.