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In the past decade we have seen a great increase of interest in magic, the occult, and Satanism. David Halperin's paper “Cults and the Literature of the Fantastic” took the group through the centuries from the Renaissance's Mirandola to present day Stephen King. Membership in groups purported to embrace and live these beliefs is described as particularly appealing to many adolescents. The typical profile is a youngster whose world needs structure different from that occurring in his or her broken home with its violence and spectrum of abuse. A belief system different from adults, and yet promising primary control, is highly appealing. Balance is attained to some degree by reference to “white magic” and Wicca, the mother goddess, representing an antipatriarchal compassionate bond between humanity and nature. Arthur Epstein expanded the theme by invoking myth and fairy tale as essential parts of human development and part of our need to explain nature and the world.
George Krupp and Frank Genovese's paper, “Psychoanalysis and Family System Aspects of Pathological Grief,” melded systems theory with psychoanalytic premises regarding pathological mourning. Freud and Bowlby provide the dynamic model for the normal grief reaction while Parkes and Weiss, Rendo, and the presentees offer additional perspectives on bereavement. Some rich case histories were given to clarify the grief phases in family systems and the need to keep “the dead alive.” By focusing on the identified patients' functioning in their family ystems, the liberation of mourning became possible for them and the other system members. This theme requires the psychoanalyst to be flexible in his or her theoretical position.
In a different direction, Edward Stephens and Ona Robinson unveiled their “Competitive-Comparative Personality Disorder” or, as Marianne Eckardt suggested to them, “at least the Character Trait.” To control or be controlled is the primary principle whether it is applied aggressively or passivel