Anger, madness, and the daimonic; the psychological genesis of violence, evil, and creativity

Foreword by Rollo May.

Obsessions : see Ch. 5 on obsession and posession.. Anger : see Ch. 6 on repressed rage, hostility, anxiety, narcissistic rage, depression and anger, addiction, psychosomatic disorders, the anatomy of passion; See Ch. 7 for catharsis, exorcism, psychosis.. Violence -- Psychological Aspects : see Ch. 1 for existential roots of anger, rage and violence.. Good and Evil -- Psychological Aspects : see Ch. 3 on demons, daemonic, devil, Mephistopheles.. Creative Ability : see Ch. 8 on Herman Melville (Ahab), Jack Henry Abbott, van Gogh, Jackson Pollock, Richard Wright, Beethoven, Ingmar Bergman.. Shadow (Psychology) : See Ch. 4: concepts of the unconscious -- Freud, Jung, Rollo May.

1 The angry American: an epidemic of rage and violence. 2 Sex wars; the animosity between women and men. 3 The psychology of evil; devils, demons and the daimonic. 4 Myth of the unconscious; the id, the shadow, and the daemonic. 5 The possession syndrome; demonic or daimonic?. 6 Madness, mental disorders, and the daimonic; the central role of anger and rage in psychopathology. 7 Redeeming our devils and demons; dealing with anger and rage in psychotherapy. 8 Creativity, genius, and the daimonic. 9 Conclusion; some final reflections on anger, rage, guilt and responsibility

Diamond's main theme is that personal responsibility for integrating one's own unconscious evil requires conscious wrestling with inner conflicts and that personal choice plays an important part in the mitigation or perpetuation of one's own pathological symptoms.

Hardcover