TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2021//
TI  - Conradian Horror: Suicide, Loss and Heart of Darkness
JO  - British journal of psychotherapy
A1  - Davies, R.
SP  - 130
EP  - 152
VL  - 37
IS  - 1
N2  - This paper presents a personal understanding of the work of two prominent writers, namely the English-Polish author Joseph Conrad and the psychotherapist Robert Hobson. I make particular reference to Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness as a work that decidedly influenced the thinking of Hobson. The allegoric themes evoked provide a landscape of rich contemplation, heavily laden with metaphor and allowing an exploration of suicide and loss. With this, I have attempted to make a statement on the impact that suicide has upon the therapist and, in doing so, provide some clinical and personal vignettes relating to my experience with suicide. I also provide an account of a deeply traumatized patient with dissociative identity disorder and chronic suicidal ideation. These reflections draw upon the language of Conrad and Hobson as suicide is considered both in a concrete literal sense and as an expansive non-linear metaphor. The term 'Conradian Horror' is given particular salience as evoking the dark and dismal vista of suicide and loss. © 2020 BPF and John Wiley & Sons Ltd<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0265-9883
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/bjp.12604
ID  - ref1
ER  -