Psychoanalysis & Medicine: A Study Of The Wish To Fall Ill
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Edition: 2nd pr.,
Condition remarks:
Book: Fair
Jacket: No dust jacket - some marks on spine and corners
Pages: Tanning and foxing
Markings: No markings
A landmark work at the intersection of psychoanalysis and medical theory, Psychoanalysis & Medicine: A Study of the Wish to Fall Ill presents a rigorous and thought-provoking argument about the psychological underpinnings of physical illness. Karin Stephen draws on psychoanalytic principles to argue that unconscious desires — specifically, a latent wish to fall ill — can manifest as genuine somatic symptoms, challenging the strict boundary between mind and body that dominated early twentieth-century medicine. Written with academic precision yet accessible clarity, the text instructs both medical practitioners and lay readers in recognizing how emotional conflict and repressed impulses translate into bodily suffering. Stephen illustrates her thesis through careful case analysis, grounding abstract psychoanalytic theory in the lived clinical experience of patients. The result is a compelling and enduring contribution to psychosomatic medicine that remains relevant to ongoing conversations about holistic healthcare and the psychological dimensions of disease.
Author: Karin Stephen
Format: Hardback
Published: 1935, Cambridge University Press
Genre: Psychology
Edition: 2nd pr.,
Condition remarks:
Book: Fair
Jacket: No dust jacket - some marks on spine and corners
Pages: Tanning and foxing
Markings: No markings
A landmark work at the intersection of psychoanalysis and medical theory, Psychoanalysis & Medicine: A Study of the Wish to Fall Ill presents a rigorous and thought-provoking argument about the psychological underpinnings of physical illness. Karin Stephen draws on psychoanalytic principles to argue that unconscious desires — specifically, a latent wish to fall ill — can manifest as genuine somatic symptoms, challenging the strict boundary between mind and body that dominated early twentieth-century medicine. Written with academic precision yet accessible clarity, the text instructs both medical practitioners and lay readers in recognizing how emotional conflict and repressed impulses translate into bodily suffering. Stephen illustrates her thesis through careful case analysis, grounding abstract psychoanalytic theory in the lived clinical experience of patients. The result is a compelling and enduring contribution to psychosomatic medicine that remains relevant to ongoing conversations about holistic healthcare and the psychological dimensions of disease.