Forces of Destiny: Psychoanalysis and the Human Idiom

by Christopher Bollas

Christopher Bollas is one of the most expressive and eloquent exponents of the ideas, meanings and experience of psychoanalysis currently writing in English. Here he examines and reflects on one of the fundamental what is it that is unique about us as individuals? How does this manifest itself in our personalities, relationships and in the psychoanalytic process?

Genres: Psychology, Psychoanalysis

225 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Christopher Bollas, Ph.D. is a Member of the International Psychoanalytical Association and has been practicing for over fifty years. Former Director of Education at the Austen Riggs Center he was Visiting Professor of Psychoanalysis at the Institute of Child Neuropsychiatry of the University of Rome. He is a prolific author and international lecturer.

Reviews

[Anja · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great piece of psychoanalytic literature hence I’ll give it 5 stars. But, for all of the psychologists interested in reading this, but not that interested in psychoanalysis or are just at the beginning of their psychoanalytic studies, skip this one for now. From my experience, it will only give you an enormous headache, you will suffer while reading it because you don’t understand half of the words mentioned, maybe even get a nervous breakdown. I am very satisfied for reading it, because now I have no doubt that I will never in my life practice psychoanalysis.

[Don · Rating 4 out of 5]

I only had the patience to finish the first part of this book. Bollas’ ideas are interesting and important, but his writing style is difficult. He admits this is the case in the introduction: “Although a reader who is accustomed to a more scientific presentation of psychoanalytic work may be put off by my presentation, I hope that upon concluding the final chapter he or she will see why I express myself as I do. I intend my writing to express something of the nature of psychoanalytic experience, which must surely be a new form of being. Perhaps we have not yet fully established a prose form to write of psychoanalytic experience, although Freud’s Interpretation of Dreams is a model of what such prose can be.” I’m incredibly intrigued by his words here, and so I hope to return to this book one day. I’m just not at a place in which I can experience this right now.

[Eleonora · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thxs is, i think, the first time i’ve read the reviews of other readers and found myself surprised at what i read, but yes, i think psychoanalisis is not for everyone, Mor Bollas is Amor easy author, i’t a Home diferentes Way to arrive deep in the vote of human psyche trough the river of pshycoanalitic theories. Every reader has a very peculiar interpretación of what’s read, so every book is subject to a very different reaction… my reaction to forces of destiny was definitely an absorbing, deep and hungry reaction to every word. I completely understand that reading Bollas is not for everybody.

[Em Lenartowicz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read all Bollas books available on Amazon in English. This one is my favourite!

[Psicoleggimi · Rating 3 out of 5]

💡Christopher Bollas è uno degli studiosi più significativi ed importanti della ricerca psicoanalitica contemporanea. In "Le Forze del destino" , edito @cortinaeditore , esamina la particolare natura dell’esperienza psicoanalitica, cercando di dare risposta a due fondamentali interrogativi dell’uomo: cosa c’è di unico in ognuno di noi? Come si manifesta questa unicità nella personalità, nella vita, nelle relazioni e nel processo psicoanalitico?

🔥In questo testo, elabora un'analisi del "Vero Sé" partendo dal concetto di “pulsione del destino”. Questa pulsione è descritta come una spinta presente in ciascuno di noi a sviluppare, articolare ed elaborare il proprio "idioma", cioè il nucleo più misterioso e introspettivo della propria personalità.

👶🏻 Secondo Bollas, la propria unicità, nonché il "Vero Sé", è ciò che si costruisce e si realizza attraverso l’esperienza che, fin dalla nascita, si fa con la propria figura di accudimento principale ma anche con tutto ciò che viene generato dalle pulsioni esercitate dal destino. L'individuo, quindi, cerca di arrivare alla propria vera essenza districandosi tra l'esperienza materna, le pulsioni del destino ed il vero proprio potenziale.

✨Vi siete mai chiesti se ciò che siete è solo frutto della vostra esperienza o se state solo compiendo il vostro destino?

📚Sappiamo bene che non sono concetti facili e che non è una lettura adatta a tutti, ma la proponiamo perché vogliamo che arrivi a psicologi, analisti e psicoterapeuti interessati all'argomento!

[Dae · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lost my patience with it and only read it in part.. Felt like the substance of the book - exploring the individual's destiny as an unfolding of a personal idiom, as opposed to mere fatedness - got lost in an incredibly annoying writing style and a dense forest of psychoanalytic formulations... Not what I was hoping for, although there were a few potentially fascinating psychoanalytic anecdotes.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Indispensable. My favorite Bollas.