Book Announcement by Michael Shoshani and Batya Shoshani (Israel)

The challenges and crises that kept resurfacing in their work with extremely difficult patients haunted by anxieties motivated Michael and Batya Shoshani to write this book. Timeless Grandiosity and Eroticized Contempt proposes a clinical conceptualization to enhance the understanding of these lost and confused patients, whose narcissistic struggle against human fate defies reality and truth, challenging the analytic situation and the analyst.

Caught between their own perception of reality and truth and the wish to be empathetic to their patients’ experiences and views of reality, analysts often feel torn and as if standing on quicksand. In this Phoenix Publishing House book, the authors journey beyond psychoanalysis into the worlds of literature, in particular the fictional works of Jorge Luis Borges; film, with an in-depth look at Roman Polanski’s Bitter Moon and Denis Villeneuve’s Incendies; and philosophy, examining the ideas of Heidegger and their links to Freud. These explorations are coupled with a solid grasp of psychoanalytic theory, such as reflections on Neville Symington’s seminal theory of narcissism. Interspersed with real-life case studies that bring the chapters to life, this interdisciplinary dialogue enriches discourse on these perplexing and illusive psychic phenomena.

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Michael Shoshani, Psy.D., MBA, is a Fulbright Scholar, senior clinical psychologist and training and supervising psychoanalyst. He is founding chair and faculty member of The Tel Aviv Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis and a member of APsaA and IPA. He practices and teaches in Tel Aviv and different European countries. His main interest is clinical theory relating to the therapy and analysis of narcissistic and perverse character pathology, as well as interdisciplinary studies in psychoanalysis. He has published numerous articles on these subjects and authored the book, Dare to be Human: A Contemporary Psychoanalytic Journey.

Batya Shoshani, Ph.D., is a Fulbright Scholar, training and supervising psychoanalyst and professor of clinical social work at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (retired), with vast experience in teaching and supervision in social work, psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. She is a founding member of The Tel Aviv Institute for Contemporary Psychoanalysis. She has been a senior consultant for public services dealing with children, adolescents, battered women and delinquent youth. She is interested in interdisciplinary studies in psychoanalysis and studies perversion, and has written numerous articles on these subjects.

Michael Shoshani, Psy.D., MBA
Tel Aviv, Israel
Email Michael Shoshani

Batya Shoshani, Ph.D.
Tel Aviv, Israel
Email Batya Shoshani