Marion Milner provides a clinical account of a twenty-year psychoanalytic treatment involving a patient named Susan, who suffered from severe psychosis and a loss of the sense of self. The narrative centers on Susan's use of spontaneous drawings as a primary method of communication when verbal language failed. Milner analyzes these visual expressions through the lens of object relations theory, focusing on the concepts of the internal mother, the protective function of madness, and the gradual integration of a fragmented ego. The text includes numerous reproductions of the patient's sketches to document her slow recovery of bodily sensation and psychic boundaries.
Practitioners of psychotherapy and students of psychoanalysis read this work to understand the intricacies of the counter-transference relationship. It offers a detailed look at how a clinician manages the intense emotional demands of long-term psychosis treatment. Readers gain a technical framework for interpreting symbolic imagery and a perspective on the necessity of clinical patience. The book provides a map for navigating the pre-verbal layers of the human mind and the role of artistic creativity in psychological healing.
- Published
- 1969
- Language
- EN
