FAVOURITE PATIENTS
17 Extraordinary Stories of Psychoanalysis
Infertile Marie battling to become a mother, Didier who committed a murder in cold blood and describes it for the first time during a session, Youri torn between two lovers, Gretel who realises her father is criminal, Léopold who is afraid of women, two-year-old Arthur who mimes out his own birth – all these patients profoundly affected their analysts with their stories, their personalities, the power of their transference or their dreams.
While respecting patient confidentiality, Jean-Pierre Winter, Muriel Flis-Trèves, Philippe Grimbert, Serge Hefez, Robert Neuburger and thirteen other psychoanalysts agreed to describe their “favourite” patient, the one they will never forget, the one who changed them as an analyst, sometimes even as a person.
The author’s deft treatment of these exceptional personal insights and life-changing encounters between patients and therapists means they read like short stories. Because psychoanalysis is a wonderful source of powerful stories, and the pain, shame, laughter and healing that these remarkable character-patients experience on the couch could be our own.
Featured psychoanalysts: Nicole Anquetil, Roland Gori, Simone Korff-Sausse, Eva-Marie Golder, Danièle Levy, Gérard Bonnet, Bernard Golse, Philippe Grimbert, Sylviane Giampino, Pierre Streliski, Jacqueline Schaeffer, Muriel Flis-Trèves, Serge Hefez, Jean-Pierre Winter, Patrick Landman, Michael Larivière, Robert Neuburger.
Violaine de Montclos is a journalist for the society pages of Le Point. Favourite Patients is her first book.