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This volume offers the reader a wonderfully rich insight into the theoretical and clinical brilliance of Dr Redfearn. It is written in fourteen chapters that can be either taken as a whole, or read as a series of thought-provoking articles. In the preface, he shares with us an experience that led him to the conceptualization of this work. From this very personal perspective, Dr Redfearn uses his vast clinical acumen to address the question of man's potential for creativity and destruction, both on a personal and cultural scale. As the title would suggest, Dr Redfearn's central focus is on the self and its duality. In the Introduction, he establishes his context for examination to be that of the myth and reality of nuclear warfare. This theme continues throughout the book in various forms from the imagery of world apocalypse to the inner struggle of good versus evil. The concept of ‘explosion’ is examined throughout the chapters with particular references to its internal (i.e. intrapsychic) and external (i.e. sociocultural) manifestations. His view that the atom bomb image may represent things or experiences that can be potentially healing to one's individual psyche is well illustrated with clinical material. He observes that ‘In the context of a successful ongoing analysis, the atom bomb image may stand for things that are potentially therapeutic … In short, the atom bomb image may represent that conjunction of opposites which is the essence of the consciously aware self and the way toward self-realization.’
Dr Redfearn posits as his unifying principle that psychotherapeutic thinking may bear a very important relationship to the current socio-historical condition, in particular regarding the issue of the nuclear bomb. Throughout the book, he addresses contemporary culture as one that is both changing rapidly and unpredictably, and coexisting with the pervasive potential of nuclear destruction. He examines the presence of bomb imagery in the dreams of patients and giv