The Cruelty Of Depression [Hardcover]

Jacques Hassoun (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 16, 1997

Melancholy, which came to be known as depression only in the twentieth century, continues to occupy a central place in psychoanalytic theory.The distinguished French psychoanalyst Jacques Hassoun offers here a brief but far-reaching treatise on the true nature and origins of depression, arguing that it is a matter of temperament, not a disease to by cured by Prozac or other drugs. Hassoun asserts that depression and all addictions are rooted in the same experience: a disruption in the weaning of the child from the mother that results in a profound sadness and an inability to experience loss. This disruption affects every aspect of the melancholic’s life, and is at the core of his damaged existence.Hassoun believes that depression may be cured only by understanding the roots of the malady in early childhood. He analyzes the causes and manifestations of depression—using moving case studies from his own practice, literary examples (from Melville and Kafka, among others), and a framework based on the theory of the influential French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan—to illustrate the melancholic’s inability to grieve. Hassoun reinterprets Lacanian Theory to make it both more accessible and anecdotal, and he offers evidence that enlightened psychotherapy can treat the melancholic’s agonizing condition.At once incisive and deeply personal, The Cruelty of Depression brings a sense of new possibilities fro relief from depressive suffering. It is an important and provocative addition to the growing debate on the treatment of depression.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Eloquently introduced by psychotherapist and author Michael Vincent Miller, this is the first work by prolific French psychoanalyst Hassoun to be translated into English. Readers unfamiliar with the work of Jacques Lacan will have trouble with such sentences as "The exalted bond of passion is sustained by an imaginary situated in a beyond of desire." But there is much in this small, dense, literate work to reward those who want to grapple with philosophical psychology. Hassoun gives vivid cases (including Melville's Bartleby) to illustrate his thesis that melancholy is an enigmatic problem of desire, passion, and loss, "plunging the subject into the infinite sorrow of an impossible bereavement." Elsewhere, Hassoun addresses a great many topics, society and culture, the city and the century past, and evil and the need for meaning among them. Miller's foreword is a fine introduction to a deeply searching and humane contribution to psychoanalytic thought. The book's difficulty, however, makes it suitable mainly for specialized collections in psychology.?E. James Lieberman, George Washington Univ. Sch. of Medicine, Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press; 1St Edition edition (October 16, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201590468
• ISBN-13: 978-0201590463
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,486,794 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Lacanian guide to sadness, April 12, 1998

By 

Eileen Galen (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Cruelty Of Depression (Hardcover)

Dr. Hassoun is smart, compassionate, and well-read. He can keep lots of ideas going simultaneously. In this substantial slim book he draws from literature (Proust, Tsvetaeva, Dostoyevsky, Christa Wolf, Kafka, Primo Levi, etc.), history, psychoanalytic studies, especially the works of Jacques Lacan. His own clinical practice informs his observations. He is a French medical doctor, and a Lacanian psychoanalyst - and in this book you must wrap your mind around Lacanian standards such as the Other - defined in a footnote on p. 25 as "that who internally represents all the wealth of signifiers (yet who can nevertheless be imagined as relay for the first Other, the mother)." His thoughts on substance abuse, addiction, eating disorders as they relate to mourning and melancholy are presented well. A main point is that depression and melancholy can't be "cured" with anything quick or pharmaceutical. Dr. Hassoun ranges far and wide in the service of his treatise; he quotes (among others) Thomas Mann, Andre Breton, Cocteau, St. John of the Cross, and his interesting patients - fluidly and appropriately. Not for the lazy reader. The Lacanian linguistic acrobatics are hard for the uninitiated. This good book requires readerly effort, and is worth it.

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The Cruelty of Misinformation, July 2, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Cruelty Of Depression (Hardcover)

Yes, this is a most interesting, yet ultimately arcane and outdated work. Clinical Depression is a muddy area, wherein the biological and psychological often overlap. The fact is, a normally healthy and happy woman can descend into a severe postpartum depression, and depressive disorders often run in families. Something is genetically amiss, and to relegate the treatment of this illness to philosphers and psychoanalysts exclusively is a painful and unkind step back into the Dark Ages. Nevertheless, there is some value to this book, yet it needs to be taken with a grain of salt.