Psychoanalytical Psychology, Personality & Identity Psychology, Death & Dying - Sociocultural Aspects, Death, Grief & Bereavement

Making Death Thinkable

Name: Making Death Thinkable
Author: Franco De Masi
ISBN: 9781853437830

by Franco De Masi

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Overview

"Man's perception of the finite nature of life is always present, resulting in anxieties of varying intensity, depending on the person's character and on the phases of life he or she is going through. De Masi is aware of the philosophical, sociological, religious or mystical approaches to the problem of death, however he chooses to focus on, and remain within, the theoretical frame of reference of psychoanalysis. He explores how different psychoanalytic theories have addressed the issue of death, its presence or absence in the unconscious, as well as the implications of the theories of the death instinct on a more strictly clinical and technical level." "Moreover, De Masi is interested in thinking about the psychological resources available to man, to make death thinkable, when its inevitable occurrence needs to be faced. He is concerned with the transformation of the thought of death, from an unthinkable catastrophic event, to a natural conclusion of one's existence." As a psychoanalyst, he explores the quality of the anxiety accompanying the idea of the natural occurrence of death, which, however, is a perturbing presence to the mind of the average person of our Western civilization.

Synopsis

Subtitling his work A Psychoanalytic Contribution to the Problem of the Transience of Life, Italian psychoanalyst De Masi addresses the nature of death anxiety, and makes the fundamental link between it and a failure to mourn properly. No information is provided about an Italian edition. Only names are indexed. Distributed in the US by ISBS. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR