Mental Affections

Does your boss constantly blame you for things you didn't do? Do you isolate yourself from friends and family to avoid conflict at home? Do you feel anxious when you see a certain "friend's" name on your cell phone? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you most likely have a narcissist in your life. The Object of My Affection Is in My Reflection will help you understand the complexities of this disorder and arm you with the coping mechanisms to navigate through this type of relationship.

A psychologist explores the intersection of love and madness through the riveting stories of the patients he has treated In The Incurable Romantic, Frank Tallis recounts the extraordinary stories of patients who are, quite literally, madly in love: a woman becomes utterly convinced that her...

A mother kisses her child's scraped knee. A father embraces his long-lost son. A dog greets its owner with desperate joy. Every culture, every species, every corner of the living world engages in these intimate acts of connection. We've been told these are merely displays of affection. But what if there’s something more? WHAT IF A KISS IS MORE THAN JUST A KISS? For the first time in human history, we are starting to see the hidden force that builds life through connection—not because we discovered something new, but because we have broken something ancient.

Set against the backdrop of the both optimistic and violent 1950s and 1960s, Affections traces the Ertls's slow and inevitable breakdown through the various erratic trajectories of each family member: Hans's undertakings of colossal, foolhardy projects and his subsequent spectacular failures; his daughter Monika, heir to his adventurous spirit, who joins the Bolivian Marxist guerrillas and becomes known as "Che Guevara's avenger"; and his wife and two younger sisters left to pick up the pieces in their wake.

Une mère possessive, un conjoint jaloux, un fils adulte qu'il faut sans cesse soutenir, une sœur instable... Dans ces diverses situations, où un proche en dépendance affective vous "bouffe la vie", se cache une forme de harcèlement encore méconnue. Non pas un harcèlement moral, mais un harcèlement fusionnel. Les demandes répétées et le besoin d'aide permanent d'un adulte affectivement dépendant constituent en effet un harcèlement du "faible" sur le "fort" qui fait de lui un persécuteur qui s'ignore.