The attraction of evil and the destruction of meaning

Bibliographic Data

ID8973277
AuthorsAnna Migliozzi (via A. Kramer, 13, 20129, Milan, Italy, corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume97
Issue4
Pages1019-1034
Publication date2015-10-29
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe International Journal of Psychoanalysis (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-7578 • E-ISSN: 1745-8315
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1745-8315.12367
PMID26513634
OpenAlexW2200931438
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited6

Does the concept of evil deserve special formulation in the realm of psychoanalytic thought? In agreement with authors such as Meltzer (1992) and De Masi (2003) and through selected moments from a boy's long analysis, I will propose a definition of evil as a state of mind, characterized by disregard for the human quality of the object and the destruction of meaning and meaningfulness of life in and for others. Evil drains, perverts and strips symbols of intentions and goals, leaving them empty of emotional significance. In my patient, the state of mind that he called evil exerted a seductive appeal and was accompanied by a sadistic excitement that he elevated into a state of sexualized well-being, which progressively perverted and destroyed emotional meaning, contributing to his confusion and desperation. Confronting this pathological configuration and describing the situation that I felt existed within his mind and between us, and rearticulating emotional meaning where it had been perverted, cannibalized or left empty, was the principal - and at times only - clinical instrument available to lead him out of his descent into nothingness

Confusion · Epistemology · Meaning (existential · Nothing · Object (grammar · Psychoanalysis · Psychoanalytic theory · Realm · Law · Mental Health and Psychiatry · Philosophy · Psychoanalysis, Philosophy, and Politics · Psychology · Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications

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