The Life-Death Instinct

Throughout this enlightening collection, Neil Maizels considers the helical tandem between the Life Instinct and the Death drive in the light of canonical literary figures like Thomas Hardy, Patricia Highsmith, Sylvia Plath and Shakespeare, classic filmmakers like Hitchcock and contemporary television shows such as Curb Your Enthusiasm, The West Wing and Succession. This light is filtered through intricate clinical work whereby Maizels seeks to illustrate and expound on the strength and indefatigability of the Life Instinct. He makes a case for it as the relentless driver of integration and binding in the ever-growing, expansive psyche. He considers both Freuds original equation of the Life Instinct with Eros and a widening interconnecting love of mankind, and Melanie Kleins with gratitude and creative reparation. This book is a multi-layered presentation of the clinical and theoretical work of Neil Maizels as it has evolved and convolved over several decades. It places the feeling through of ones conflicts at the heart of the minds generation of a unique identity, equipped to evolve its own unique form of creative spirit in the face of lifes most pressing psychological challenges: the limitation of time, and reciprocated beauty. The Life-Death Instinct: Feeling Through Creative-Clinical Moments is important reading for anyone seeking to expand their knowledge in this fascinating intersection of psychoanalysis and the arts.