MIRROR, MASK, AND SHADOW: The Risk and Rewards of Self-Acceptance

by Sheldon Kopp ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 28, 1980

Determined to prove that life is no fun (An End to Innocence, 1978), psychotherapist Sheldon Kopp here spins out to book length a thin and tired premise: we are all divided into dual or even multiple selves as a result of socialization (does the name ""mask"" mean anything to you?), and in order to be whole we have to integrate the often warring selves--including the repressed darker side of our personalities. To support the thesis, Kopp continues his standard policy of drawing at length from his psychiatric practice, especially his early, innocent days in a ward for the criminally insane--sex offenses a specialty--and he adds to this juicy fare some hack summaries of Dostoevsky (The Double) and Wilde (The Picture of Dorian Gray). Mom and Dad, of course, are analyzed at length: they repressed their own ""passionate"" natures, perhaps, and left you a one-dimensional intellectual; or maybe they made you feel ashamed and guilty, so you repressed the part they didn't really approve of. In case you're wondering, Kopp can even pinpoint the exact stage at which their disapproval made you psychotic, ""borderland,"" or simply garden-variety neurotic. Good for attaching blame; but no way to become ""whole"" again.

Pub Date: Nov. 28, 1980

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Macmillan

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1980

Categories: NONFICTION