The Triumphant Victim A Psychoanalytical Perspective on Sadomasochism and Perverse Thinking

This book examines the unrecognised prevalence of sadomasochism and perverse thinking in personal relationships as well as the public domain, and discusses the way it contributes to the culture of the victim.The first part traces the origins of perverse pathology and how it operates in obstructing emotional development and producing dysfunctional relationships. This is put in the context of hysteria, exhibitionism, voyeurism, and projective identification and is illustrated with clinical material drawn from the author's thirty years of psychoanalytical practice as well as experiences of couple- and family-therapy and educational consultations. The second half of the book examines current modes of thinking and belief systems with particular emphasis on tribal, basic-assumption mentality. The author examines the legacy of Cartesian dualism and the Enlightenment in contributing to the marginalization of feminine values in favour of negative, masculine control. Fundamentalist belief, the 'New Atheism' and feminism are subjected to particular scrutiny for evidence of perverse thinking leading to internal contradictions and the manifestation of these in the consulting room is illustrated with clinical material.

Who This Book is For , Foreword , Introduction: the human context and the developmental imperative , Clinical Issues , Control and helplessness , The core problem: from subversion to perversion , Infantile and adult sexuality , Mothering and the parental couple , Pornography and masturbation: the virtual world , The avoidance of feeling , Projective identification and the claustrum , Sexuality and perversion , Masochism and the emotional orphan , Romantic agony , Hysteria and sadomasochism , Exhibitionism and voyeurism , Social Manifestations , Symbolisation and concrete thinking , Basic tribal assumption thinking and mentality , Perversely religious and religiously perverse , Evangelical atheism , Feminism and the phallic Trojan horse , A child is being murdered , The everlasting baby and the parasite , From victim and blame to a saner society , Case Histories , Abigail: survival through invisibility , Judy and Maria: vendettas against the parent/analyst , Damien: student drop-out and would-be professional psychiatric patient , Kelly: a case of courage in the face of perversity , Mark: the battered husband , Peter and Jim: the black hole of the psyche

JF Miller