Main description:

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.

Contents:

Preface

Introduction: The superego in 21st century psychoanalysis Celia Harding

Part I: Theoretical and Developmental Considerations

1. The good, the bad and the superego. From punishment to reparation R.D. Hinshelwood

2. A new theory of conscience: the petrified ego Elizabeth Reddish

3. Reflections on the ego ideal in childhood Ann Horne

4. The neurobiological bases of human moralities: civilization's misguided moral development Darcia Narvaez

Part II: The Role of the Superego in Different States of Mind

5. 'Sorry won't make a dead man alive': the superego behind depressive states of mind Celia Harding

6. Superegos in patients with problems of perversion Heather Wood

7. About the analyst and patient: the superego in borderline states of mind Jack Nathan

8. The role of the superego in psychopathic states of mind and personality Celia Taylor

9. Fundamentalism and the superego Lesley Murdin

Part III: The Superego in Clinical Contexts

10. The superego as a significant factor in clinical training Christine Driver

11. The analytic superego Warren Colman

12. The superego's role in the ethical attitude: hindrance and help Celia Harding