Author: Franco de Masi File Type: pdf Franco De Masi is well known for his psychoanalytic work with patients suffering psychotic illnesses. In this book, De Masi addresses the human vulnerability to psychosis, but the modest title of his book belies the depth of its investigations and conclusions. De Masi invites the reader into a thoughtful, systematic exploration of many aspects of the complex problems associated with psychotic illnesses its ontogenesis and the emotional crises that lead to the dominance of psychotic thinking, the function of psychosis with regard to reality, its eruption or progression (depending upon the type of psychosis involved) and, crucially, the difficult and painstaking task of treatment.This latter theme is explored in considerable detail by De Masi and is perhaps the most telling message of this book. Example after example of his engagement with patients illuminates his central objective - the gradual disinvestment by the patient of psychic energy allocated to ostensibly protective, but ultimately self-destructive, psychotic constructions and a re-investment in neurotic or more normal psychicreality - a world the patient has had to largely forsaken under the sway of delusion...This is a relatively small book, but one that is large in scope and substantial in content. It provides the clinician with important perspectives on the origins and development of delusions in psychosis and offers a new perspective regarding the radical differences between delusional and normal or neurotic thought, and how these differences come about. It moves our thinking forward in an area that has too often been neglected, and for this we need to be grateful. - Paul Williams, from the Introduction

Author: Edward Ellsberg File Type: epub Based on a true story the thrilling tale of a ships 1879 journey to explore the North Poleand the crews desperate attempt to escape an Arctic ice pack. In the 1870s, newspaperman James Gordon Bennett of the New York Herald drummed up excitement and publicity for his paper through highly publicized missions of exploration. In 1879, Bennetts idea for a voyage was his most audacious to date the North Pole. To do this, he hired a team of naval veterans in addition to a smattering of civilians with specialized knowledge in meteorology, whaling, and naturalism. The men on board the Jeannette set off in September of 1879. This would be the last time anyone saw them for two years. The product of devoted research into personal histories, memoirs, and classified congressional investigation records, Hell on Ice is a remarkable document a novelization of history, turning the horrible ordeal of the brave men of the Jeannette into a riveting narrative. Written with a weathered seamans familiarity, the story brilliantly captures a most perilous voyage from the perspective of the ships chief engineer. The men of the Jeannette endure months trapped in an Arctic ice pack, and then begin a desperate trek for home. **Review An artistic achievement of no small proportions, the telling of the story, and what a story there is to tell. -- Herschel Brickell in the New York Post The book is destined to be widely read. It is a thrilling yarn, packed with drama from beginning to end. -- Lincoln Concord in the New York Herald Tribune About the Author Edward Ellsberg (1891 1983) graduated first in his class from the United States Naval Academy in 1914. After he did a stint aboard the USS Texas, the navy sent Ellsberg to Massachusetts Institute of Technology for postgraduate training in naval architecture. In 1925, he played a key role in the salvage of the sunken submarine USS S-51 and became the first naval officer to qualify as a deep-sea diver. Ellsberg later received the Distinguished Service Medal for his innovations and hard work.