The incurable romantic and other tales of madness and desire

Description

A psychologist explores the intersection of love and madness through the riveting stories of the patients he has treated In The Incurable Romantic, Frank Tallis recounts the extraordinary stories of patients who are, quite literally, madly in love: a woman becomes utterly convinced that her dentist is secretly infatuated with her and drives him to leave the country; a man destroys his massive fortune through trysts with over three thousand prostitutes—because his ego requires that they fall in love with him; a beautiful woman's pathological jealousy destroys the men who love her. Along the way, we learn a great deal about the history of psychiatry and the role of neuroscience in addressing disordered love. Elegantly written and infused with deep sympathy, The Incurable Romantic shows how all of us can become a bit crazy in love. Cover Title Page Copyright Table of Contents Dedication Preface 1 The Barrister’s Clerk: Love that accepts no denial 2 The Haunted Bedroom: Ageless passion 3 The Woman Who Wasn’t There: Suspicion and destructive love 4 The Man Who Had Everything: Addicted to love 5 The Incurable Romantic: On the impossibility of perfect love 6 The American Evangelist: Sins of the flesh 7 The Stocking Game: Dr B and Fräulein O—a cautionary tale 8 Narcissus: Desire reflected 9 The Night Porter: Guilt and self-deception 10 The ‘Good’ Paedophile: Tainted love 11 The Couple: Improbable love 12 Brain Cuts: Love dissected Acknowledgments About the Author