You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
This is an unusually important book that should be read by all psychiatrists and psychotherapists. That having been said, a word about its distinguished author is in order. Michael H. Stone is perhaps best described as a phenomenon. Dapper in dress, elegant of manner, he lectures throughout the world, usually in the language of whatever country he happens to be in. Stone achieved a well-deserved international reputation following the publication of his monographs on the borderline syndromes, and on a follow up of patients hospitalized at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. The only other psychoanalyst/psychiatrist who rivals Stone in productivity and quality is Otto Kernberg, who wrote the afterword to The Anatomy of Evil.
Stone is to be congratulated for his straightforward use of the term “evil” in the book title. Modern psychodynamic psychiatry is awash in optimism that at times borders on sentimentality. Stone's vivid portrayals of the people in this book remind us that the human psyche is not in fact endlessly plastic. No degree of atunement or relationality, or positive patient/therapist fit or empathy could ever correct the psychic and moral defects among most individuals he discusses. Their anger/hostility/violence is not a defense against anxiety but rather an expression of their primary “nature.” As a group they are more depraved than anyone that this reviewer has met in the world of fiction. Most have been more vicious than Goneril, Regan, Edmund, Richard the III, and Hannibal Lecter of best seller and film fame. These are not people that most psychotherapists ever meet, unless they happen to be murdered by one of them. As Stone astutely observes, their deeds are considered “evil” by the general public and Stone's title validates the moral framework used by most people in their daily lives.
Following his earlier contributions, Stone became interested in forensic psychiatry, and particularly violent criminality. The database for this volume came from t