In this profound and eloquent book, an eminent psychoanalyst discusses the primitive and irrational delusions that are common to all of us. Drawing on the lives and works of such literary figures as Samuel Butler, as well as clinical cases, Dr. Leonard Shengold illustrates how we can lessen the effect of these delusions through insight into what we are and what has happened to us-insight necessary for successful therapy and for happiness in life.

Since the publication of Dr. Leonard Shengold's highly acclaimed book Soul Murder in 1989, issues of child abuse have become the subject of much public debate. Now Dr. Shengold offers his latest reflections on the circumstances in which the willful abuse and neglect of children arises and on the consequences of this abuse, providing compelling examples from literature and from clinical material. Dr. Shengold describes various types of child abuse as well as techniques of adaptation and denial by soul murder victims. He explores the psychopathology of soul murder, addressing such issues as...

This volume presents a collection of case studies by analysts who have treated patients who have committed serious acts of violence, either against others or themselves. Each detailed clinical account demonstrates the effectiveness of the psychoanalytic treatment and aims to further our understanding of the nature of violence. The text also contains a comprehensive review of the existing literature on aggression and violence from America, England and France, drawing out major themes which should be of interest to all those working with violent and suicidal patients.

To abuse or neglect a child, to deprive the child of his or her own identity and ability to experience joy in life, is to commit soul murder. Soul murder is the perpetration of brutal or subtle acts against children that result in their emotional bondage to the abuser and, finally, in their psychic and spiritual annihilation. In this compelling, disturbing, and superbly readable book, Dr. Leonard Shengold, clinical professor of psychiatry at the New York University School of Medicine, explores the devastating psychological effects of this trauma inflicted on a shocking number of children....

In this richly textured study of personal growth and creativity hemmed in by childhood disaster, Shengold compares the differing gifts and differing solutions of extraordinary talents as they seek to negotiate a universal longing to refind the mother without sliding back into neglect, abuse, and despair. In the foreground of his analysis are moving portraits of Jules Renard and Anthony Trollope and the densely packed traumatic legacy of their respective childhoods, the one limned in sustained psychological torture, the other framed by neglect and abandonment.
Long acknowledged as a master...

Our sense of identity (our psychological birth sometime in the first year of life) begins with the feeling that we are the center of the universe, protected by godlike benevolent parents who will enable us to live happily ever after.

This is the -Promise- that is never given up, lurking in the unconscious part of our minds. We must learn, reluctantly, that our parents are unable to protect us from the passage of time, from decline, and from death. Yet we retain, even as adults, the delusion that, while others may die, we never will. This adds fuel to the murderous anger we are born...