Main description:

"This diminutive book packs a powerful punch ... Mollon skilfully manages to bring together the many facets of this subject in a succinct, engaging way... a complex subject, artfully curated and expressed." -- Sussex Counselling and Psychotherapy News, Spring 2021

Pathologies of the Self draws on almost 45 years of clinical practice to explore the nature and structure of human identity. Collectively, we are trapped in images of self, whether constructed by us, or imposed by others. These illusions are inextricably bound to our sense of who we are, and sometimes defended so fiercely that it leads to narcissistic disturbances and borderline states of mind. In this fascinating book Phil Mollon explores narcissistic phenomena in both the clinic and everyday life, demonstrating the illusory nature of the self, and showing how, beneath our defences, we are all 'borderline'.

Contents:

Preface and summary
1 Narcissism, delusion, and the development of the structural self
2 The realm of the imaginary
3 The imaginary self
4 Narcissism and sexual trauma
5 The roots and structure of narcissistic disturbance
6 Borderline states
References
Index