Denial, Negation, and the Forces of the Negative: Freud, Hegel, Lacan, Spitz, and Sophocles, by Wilfried Ver Eecke.  SUNY Press, New York, 2006,  190 pp., $19.95.

I feel inadequate to the task of deciphering Ver Eecke's text, as though I need a wider and much deeper background in philosophy, especially in Hegel. As a result, some of the text was absolutely unintelligible to me; much of its meaning remained stubbornly concealed. My “road to truth,” was veritably “a highway of despair” (as Ver Eecke quotes Hegel on page 2). Ver Eecke is arguably an expert in the “depth philosophy” of Hegel; he bids us examine the “forces of the negative” in Freud and in the contemporary practice of psychotherapy.

It was a rough read at first, but sticking with the text paid off. The expansive notes at the end of the book were especially clarifying and welcoming. Ver Eecke's general aim of bringing together Freud, Hegel, Lacan, Spitz, Sophocles, and Anthony Moore is a very useful one, one close to the heart of every psychotherapist as they attempt to deal with the “forces of the negative” within their own patients and within their own theoretical underpinnings. This is a book intended for the professional philosopher or the philosophically-minded psychotherapist who is willing to grapple with the complexities of the likes of Hegel. For me personally, Ver Eecke's text rekindled my interest in Freud's work on “Denial” (and his associated usages of “Disavowal” and “Foreclosure”).