The Severed Soul: A Psychoanalyst's Heroic Battle to Heal the Mind of a Schizophrenic

The five-year analysis of the pseudonymous Nancy Winthrop, a schizophrenic young woman, is recounted by her therapist, Strean, and Freeman ( Behind the Couch ), who describe the struggle to address buried fears, hates and sexual desires that caused the patient to escape reality into paranoid obsessions and fantasies. Unlike most of his peers, Strean believes that schizophrenia with roots in childhood trauma can be treated by analysis rather than by electroshock, drugs or hospitalization. The compelling narrative reveals almost as much about the therapist as about his patient, including the emotional drain on both. (Feb.)