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Working With Difficult Patients: From Neurosis to Psychosis

Author(s) : Franco De Masi

Reviews and Endorsements

‘Franco De Masi is an original and humane voice in psychoanalysis; he has the courage to take on tough topics – suicide bombers, facing the pain of death, and now, working with difficult patients. He writes with clarity, and with convincing clinical illustrations. This book will be enlightening to professionals working in the mental health field and beyond.’
— Irma Brenman Pick, Training Analyst and Distinguished Fellow of the British Psychoanalytical Society

‘Dr De Masi’s new book is an impressive account of his work with “difficult” patients and what we can learn from them about ourselves. Based on his rich clinical experience, he invites us to explore the borderline area between neurosis and psychosis and to share his discoveries in this field. An outstanding contribution not only for the practising psychoanalyst, but also for all those who are confronted with these multifaceted pathologies and phenomena in their daily clinical work.’
— Prof. Dr. med. Heinz Weiss, Head of the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, Robert-Bosch-Krankenhaus, Stuttgart; Managing Director of the Medical Section, Sigmund-Freud-Institut, Frankfurt a.M.; lecturer, University of Tübingen, Germany

‘In Working with Difficult Patients, Franco De Masi shares a lifetime of clinical experience and creative thought about the treatment of patients who suffer from early trauma, significant disturbances in early object relationships (over-intrusiveness, insufficient responsiveness), and the pathological organisations that follow in their wake. The broad reach of this integrative work has deep roots in the writings of Bion, Winnicott, and the neo-Kleinians, especially Rosenfeld, Meltzer, Segal, Steiner, and Brenman. This book should prove of great interest and value to any clinician engaged in the analytic treatment of the wide range of psychopathological conditions that lie beyond neurosis and classical technique, from the borderline to the psychotic, and all the possible variations and presentations – addictions, perversions, eating disorders, etc – that lie between.’
— Howard B. Levine, MD, supervising analyst at the Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis and co-editor of Unrepresented States and the Construction of Meaning

‘Franco De Masi’s writing is concise, scholarly, and illuminating. In this new book, a conceptual and clinical inquiry into core aspects of serious disturbance in neurotic and psychotic individuals, he conveys insights and formulations that will be of great value to any clinician assisting severely disturbed patients make changes in their lives, which they also experience as unattainable. An immensely valuable contribution.’
— Paul Williams, former Joint Editor-in-Chief, International Journal of Psychoanalysis