Due to the inherent contradiction in Freud's concept of the Superego, there is a gap in our psychoanalytic understanding of how conscience evolves. This distinction is essential for the successful treatment of patients dominated by a harsh Superego and provides valuable insight into how contemporary society evaluates moral decisions. The Petrified Ego argues for a revision of psychoanalytic theory to include instinct as the primary form of morality. It makes the case that our earliest, infantile notion of 'good' and 'bad' is rather founded on experiences which have been 'safe or 'threatening'. More often than not, this is the basis of our moral judgement of others. It is only through direct challenge to these visceral values that beliefs independent of the survival instinct can be forged. Why does this matter? Lack of distinction between the two means that consideration of the 'right or wrong' or the 'good or bad' of others' behaviour is no more than the rationalising of an instinctual response.

Hammering Hot Iron is a rare work that raises important questions, draws vital distinctions, and elevates discourse within the spiritual community on the Men's Movement, Jungian psychology, archetypal and mythological studies, and polytheistic religions. Drawing on the perennial philosophy, the universal expression of absolute truth, Upton offers a metaphysical and cultural critique of Robert Bly's Iron John. Upton adopts Bly's shadow in the Jungian sense. His intellectual argument is masterfully intertwined with his own personal and spiritual journey, often expressed through original poetry. "The book is excellent. Upton's insights have exposed the shallow philosophical thinking associated with the Men's Movement, the inadequacy of polytheism as a religious faith, and the bias against Christianity. Hammering Hot Iron does a splended job of critiquing Jungian writers and in showing there is more to God than the archetype of God in the psyche. Thank you for your excellent work in setting the record straight " -- John A. Sanford, Jungian analyst "Charles Upton provides a long-overdue masterful critique of the Men's Movement, its popularizing heroes, and the archetypal psychology on which it is based. In this marvelously iconoclastic book, Upton articulates the feelings and thoughts of those who have left the movement or are wondering why they are still part of it. He does so with eloquence, wit, and not least, wisdom. --Georg Feuerstein, Ph.D., author of Voices on the Threshold of Tomorrow and Structures of Consciousness Charles Upton is a poet, social activist, and writer of the spiritual path. He is author of many other books published by Sophia Perennis

Slavoj Žižek is one of the world's foremost cultural commentators: a prolific writer and thinker, whose vividly adventurous, unorthodox and wide-ranging writings have won him a unique place as one of the most high profile thinkers of our time. Covering psychoanalysis, philosophy and popular culture and drawing on a heady mix of Marxist politics, Hegelian dialectics and Lacanian psychoanalysis, the writings collected in Interrogating the Real reflect not only the remarkable extent of Žižek's varied interests, but also reveal his controversial and dynamic style.

This collection introduces and develops Lacanian thought concerning the relations among language, subjectivity, and society. Lacanian Theory of Discourse provides an account of how language both interacts with and constitutes structures of subjectivity, producing specific attitudes and behaviors as well as significant social effects.

The Deconstructive Owl of Minerva: An Examination of Schizophrenia through Philosophy, Psychoanalysis and Postmodernism takes as its project the articulation of the language of schizophrenia as it inscribes itself between the self and ‘other.’ It takes into account Georg W. F. Hegel’s account of self-consciousness as a master-slave relation. A reading of Jacques Lacan provides access to the narrative self in terms of the “mirror stage” as the recognition of the self as ‘other’. By a further reading of postmodern theorists, this book shows that what has been named schizophrenia calls for a deconstructive strategy that operates with the divergence between pharmacological treatment and the understanding of the language of the schizophrenic condition. This difference will emphasize language as plural, plurivalent, polyphonic and polylogical. This book, essentially, seeks to circumvent the label of “schizophrenia” and to provide alternative ways to understand schizophrenic language in order to culturally rearticulate its effects in society. Postmodern and deconstructive modes of access to the languages of desire, dispersal, and plurivalence that are associated with schizophrenic conditions can help to open up spaces of understanding that are rendered impossible through symptomatic treatment models.

Dissecting the Superego: Moralities Under the Psychoanalytic Microscope offers a comprehensive overview of how the superego, the workings of our moral faculties, may be understood and clinically utilised in contemporary practice. Drawing on the latest psychoanalytic thinking – as well as neurobiological, psychological and ethical perspectives- this book reinstates the superego as a central concept, and gives a clear guide to its importance in the modern world. In addition to the theoretical background of this construct, the contributors provide a clear guide to the importance of the superego in a range of pathological and everyday scenarios, and particularly in clinical settings. With an emphasis on the wider social and cultural context, Dissecting the Superego: Moralities Under the Psychoanalytic Microscope will be of interest to trainee and qualified psychotherapists, social workers, youth offender and probation workers and ethicists.

Offering a new translation of the famous chapter IV ("Self-Consciousness") of Phenomenology of Spirit, this book reflects the far-reaching insights of contemporary Hegelian scholarship. Included is extensive commentary as well as a review of its reception by such important twentieth-century thinkers as Kojeve, Heidegger, Sartre, Gadamer, Bataille, Deleuze, Lacan, and Habermas. Interest in Hegel has historically centered around the Phenomenology of Spirit. In particular chapter IV, including Hegel's celebrated "master-slave dialectic," has influenced philosophers, political theorists, social psychologists, cultural anthropologists, and literary theorists alike. Hegel began this chapter with an influential discussion of the nature of human "desire," and then described a hypothetical encounter between two pre-social human beings who engage in a life-and-death struggle for recognition. Out of this struggle that gave rise to self-identity, emerged such forms of consciousness as master and slave, stoicism, skepticism, and what Hegel referred to as "the unhappy consciousness," which he took to be paradigmatic of early Christianity. These forms of consciousness, in turn, are transcended by other, more comprehensive, forms of consciousness that ultimately come to reflect the highest elaborations of societal life. The impetus for these dynamic changes comes from the dialectical contradictions that inhere within our most basic conceptions of personhood.

A blank page in front of a writer possesses the chance to create a masterpiece. The truth that it may or may not exist is what makes it so unique. While inspiration comes at any moment, it's the rush of passion from a novice love that excites our entire demeanor. This same fiery passion, if left unattended, will diminish in time until its embers are the only remembrance of its existence. Unknown to some, this is all a part of the revolution of life. Idealistically, life revolves around four seasons summer, autumn, winter and spring. Our reaction to these inevitable changes is what defines who we are. You must first identify what you want out of a situation, and then take the necessary steps to achieve it. Whether it's the courage to tell someone how you feel, the heart to express your desires if they are not being met, or the strength to let go of someone that is holding you back, you are the master of your fate. Don't limit yourself to what you can and cannot do. In the back of our minds we are all searching for the same thing the opportunity to love and be loved. Expressing that, for some, is a difficult thing. The question remaining is it possible to be inspired by an experience that isn't yours? Universality tells us yes, and Barely Breathing is an example of such an instance.

In Essays on the Pleasure of Death, Ellie Ragland discusses the interconnection of Freud and Lacan's theories, while maintaining that crucial differences between them still exist. Ragland argues, however, that Lacan's "return to Freud" gave coherence to concepts which Freud could never explain: psychosis, narcissism, the body and the death drive. Drawing upon Lacan's untranslated seminars through 1981, Ragland analyzes his theories of the death drive and the concept of jouissance, the driving force behind language and libido. Along with her examination of Lacanian theories about the body, meaning systems, and how they shape reality, Ragland also discusses the ethical problems of psychoanalysis and the ways in which Lacan's work points to the inadequacies of terms like "sexuality" and "gender."

The Handbook of Body Psychotherapy and Somatic Psychology provides a comprehensive overview of body-centered psychotherapies, which stress the centrality of the body to overcoming psychological distress, trauma, and mental illness. Psychologists and therapists are increasingly incorporating these somatic or body-oriented therapies into their practices, making mind-body connections that enable them to provide better care for their clients. Designed as a standard text for somatic psychology courses, The Handbook of Body Psychotherapy and Somatic Psychology contains 100 cutting-edge essays and studies by respected professionals from around the world on such topics as the historical roots of Body Psychotherapy; the role of the body in developmental psychology; the therapeutic relationship in Body Psychotherapy; and much more, as well as helpful case studies and essays on the use of Body Psychotherapy for specific disorders. This anthology will be indispensible for students of clinical and counseling psychology, somatic psychology, and various forms of body-based therapy (including dance and movement therapies), and is also an essential reference work for most practicing psychotherapists, regardless of their therapeutic orientation. Contributors: Gustl Marlock, Halko Weiss, Courtenay Young, Michael Soth, Ulfried Geuter, Judyth O. Weaver, Wolf E. Büntig, Nicholas Bassal, Michael Coster Heller, Heike Langfeld, Dagmar Rellensmann, Don Hanlon Johnson, Christian Gottwald, Andreas Wehowsky, Gregory J. Johanson, David Boadella, Alexander Lowen, Ian J. Grand, Marilyn Morgan, Stanley Keleman, Eugene T. Gendlin, Marion N. Hendricks-Gendlin, Michael Harrer, Ian J. Grand, Marianne Bentzen, Andreas Sartory, George Downing, Andreas Wehowsky, Marti Glenn, Ed Tronick, Bruce Perry, Susan Aposhyan, Mark Ludwig, Ute-Christiane Bräuer, Ron Kurtz, Christine Caldwell, Albert Pesso, Michael Randolph, William F. Cornell, Richard A. Heckler, Gill Westland, Lisbeth Marcher, Erik Jarlnaes, Kirstine Münster, Tilmann Moser, Frank Röhricht, Ulfried Geuter, Norbert Schrauth, Ilse Schmidt-Zimmermann, Peter Geissler, Ebba Boyesen, Peter Freudl, James Kepner, Dawn Bhat, Jacqueline Carleton, Ian Macnaughton, Peter A. Levine, Stanley Keleman, Narelle McKenzie, Jack Lee Rosenberg, Beverly Kitaen Morse, Angela Belz-Knöferl, Lily Anagnostopoulou, William F. Cornell, Guy Tonella, Sasha Dmochowski, Asaf Rolef Ben-Shahar, Jacqueline A. Carleton, Manfred Thielen, Xavier Serrano Hortelano, Pat Ogden, Kekuni Minton, Thomas Harms, Nicole Gäbler, John May, Rob Fisher, Eva R. Reich, Judyth O. Weaver, Barnaby B. Barratt, Sabine Trautmann-Voigt, Wiltrud Krauss-Kogan, Ilana Rubenfeld, Camilla Griggers, Serge K. D. Sulz, Nossrat Peseschkian, Linda H. Krier, Jessica Moore Britt, and Daniel P. Brown.