The book creates an awareness of our excessive fear of mental pain: the ubiquitous abhorrence of inner distress functions as a gravitational force that may ultimately impede both maturation and creativity, as if we were facing a choice between utilizing our inner suffering, or else being overwhelmed by our fear of its inertial power. Psychoanalytic interpretation is the effort to render pain more approachable, and bearable enough for us to move forward, to avoid the escapes of pathology and somatization. This exploration is in fact an urgent concern, both clinically and socially.

The book creates an awareness of our excessive fear of mental pain: the ubiquitous abhorrence of inner distress functions as a gravitational force tha...