In this new edition of Psychology and Psychopathology of the love life, the reader will find an excellent introduction to certain aspects of love and human relationships in general, for which the author works with materials from clinical trials, literature (specialized or not) and history. Rattner's point of view is that of the revised psychoanalysis (as practiced, among others, Adler, Fromm, Horney and, above all, the German phenomenologists Binswanger and Medard Boss) to build a meticulously elaborated exploration, which delves into the psychological foundations of love and unravels its mysteries and complexities with academic rigor and deep perception.
Since the “normality” of the love life is only perceived as an ideal of balance whose complexity reveals the numerous possible deviations, most of the work is dedicated to exposing and analyzing the so-called “sexopathies”. In studying these anomalies, Rattner insistently rejects moralizing and religious approaches and is concerned only with discovering the underlying psychological attitudes and denouncing the social roots and the most general sources of such anomalies: erroneous, anxiogenic and unhealthy education, the unjust inequality of the sexes, and the prevailing values of power and prestige over oblative, reciprocal and respectful love. His research goes, thus, beyond mere analysis: it is a compassionate and empathetic exploration of the human heart in which, with different nuances and an acute sensitivity, he navigates the complexities of love, illuminating the joys and sorrows, the triumphs and the tribulations that accompany us.
Psychology and psychopathology of the love life is an ideal approach for readers who wish to deepen or approach these topics for the first time: it is an academic specialized in the human psyche or an individual who navigates the labyrinth of love in his own life, the ideas and orientation of this work acquire an incalculable value and offer testimony of the scholarship and humanity of its author.