The Problem of the Puer Aeternus (Studies in Jungian psychology by Jungian analysts)

"If you happen to be a puer aeternus you might find this book an appalling revelation: all those ways you thought you were special and unique are merely pathological expressions of your mother-bound sickness. I came to this book after looking at psychoanalytical understandings of Narcissism and Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Von Franz is kinder and more sympathetic to the narcissists than most writers, she offers the possibility of a cure, which they don't generally. Though most of her case studies have bad endings. It's a pity she doesn't include more about the female narcissists and the difference their father-complex (or perhaps their negative mother-complex?) manifests.

I loved the book; it provided me with a key, but I wonder whether you need a grounding in Jungian thinking before you can get the most out of it..."
~ Written on 2007-09-10