The Absolute Shadow Destiny, Fate, and Intergenerational Processes in Analytical Psychology

This book explores Jung’s central concept of shadow from a particular configuration that the author calls "Absolute Shadow," placing it in relation to the idea of destiny as catastrophic. Clinically based and supported by a vast number of therapy cases, the book exemplifies how the Absolute Shadow is a result of the projection of the most fragile and destructive parts of one’s psyche. In some cases, it may cause loss of identity and, through the mechanisms of false/double personality, is bound to result in psychosis. Other aspects of the Shadow, like the intergenerational shadow, are also examined in depth. The Absolute Shadow is the well-informed result of Caramazza’s fifty years of study and clinical experience. It is important reading for Jungian and depth psychologists, as well as for psychoanalytic students, trainees, and clinicians of all schools of thought.

Concept of the Shadow in Jung’s thought Introduction Part I 1. Destiny as a Sense of the Inevitable 2. The weight of the shadow 3. Journeys of life and Therapy: Five Clinical Cases 4. Destiny and Transgenerational Shadow PartII 5. Fate 6. Destiny and Individuation Process Conclusion Afterword by Fulvia De Benedittis, Sandra Fersurella, Silvia Presciuttini

Elena Caramazza, MD and Pediatrician, is an IAAP member, AIPA preceptor and Jungian analyst. She has published several papers and reviews concerning Jungian thought and analytical psychology and practices privately as an analyst in Rome. She is the author, with Murray Stein, of Temporality, Shame, and the Problem of Evil in Jungian Psychology: An Exchange of Ideas, (Routledge). She is the author of the book Silenzio a Praga (Moretti e Vitali) and also wrote a chapter "L'Ombra" in Trattato di Psicologia Analitica, UTET, 1992.