The Loss of Self: Self-Writing as a Tool in Borderline Psychoanalysis

The Loss of Self considers distinctions and connections between the writing of survival and survival as a mode of being and thinking encountered in analytic work with borderline patients.

Jean-Francois Chiantaretto draws a parallel between Freud’s use of writing in constructing the psychoanalytic edifice and the way each analyst may turn to writing when reflecting on a patient’s analysis. With close reference to the writings of Imre Kertész, the book brings a unique perspective to the literary and historical concept of survival.

The Loss of Self will be of interest to psychoanalysts in practice and in training.

Jean-François Chiantaretto is a Paris-based psychoanalyst and professor emeritus of clinical psychopathology at Sorbonne Paris North University. Trained in philosophy and clinical psychology, he is a member and scientific secretary of the Quatrième Groupe.