Splitting; a case of female masculinity

By Patricia O'Brien

Book Overview

This classic book is a detailed case study of a woman, otherwise intelligent and apparently sane, who was convinced that she had internally a full set of functioning male sex organs. Dr. Robert Stoller's account of this woman's diagnosis and treatment is illustrated by excerpts from the patient-analyst dialogue during her therapy, providing enough detail to be useful to clinicians in training. Originally published in hardcover in 1973, the book is now available in paperback for the first time. "One of the longest, most minutely detailed, and most fascinating case reports in the psychiatric literature. . . . An extremely original contribution to the study of perversion."-Ethel Spector Person, M.D., from the Foreword "One of the great clinical case studies. Splitting demonstrates the power of psychoanalytic reasoning in the twentieth century."-Gilbert Herdt, University of Chicago

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812903382
• ISBN13: 9780812903386
• Release Date: January 1973
• Publisher: -
• Length: 395 Pages
• Weight: 1.08 lbs.

Customer Reviews

This is an author's appreciation of a review

It is a gratifying experience to read a review as positive as Mr. O'Connor's a full 25 years after I wrote "The Woman Alone." I'm touched and pleased that it still speaks to people so long after the events in my life that produced it. What more can a writer ask?

The definitive classic work on the subject of women alone.

The author's definition encompasses not only women living by themselves, but those psycologically dependent on husbands and alone inside a marriage, along with many other situations. She (the author) mixes her own experiences with experiences of women she interviews. She successfully creates a beautiful reference for women and men coping with how to make decisions under many circumstances. You so much admire how she moved from a 1950's dependent housewife to a strong person, able to cope with the many obstacles anyone can face in finding an identity. This book is one of the finest works I have ever read on any subject.