Helen Block Lewis died at the beginning of the year 1987, shortly before the publication of this book. Rightly enough, her collaborators dedicated this last work to her. Mrs Lewis, in a psychoanalytic career which spanned the last forty years, did much to bring our attention to the subject of shame. Calling it the 'sleeper' in psychopathology, she tried from all possible angles to draw our attention to the importance of awakening that sleeping dog. Her many contributions include her first book, Shame and Guilt in