Tyranny of the spirit

In Tyranny of the Spirit, David K. Curran, a psychologist working in an urban high school, traces teenagers' paths to abusive love. Adolescent relationships have received little serious attention other than inquiries into the incidence of sexual behavior. Yet they are particularly vulnerable to this especially unhealthy and dangerous form of intimate loving. Using current research, dynamic theory, and his own case vignettes, Curran examines the psychological makeup of the competent yet passive woman who comes to be loved by a possessive, rageful young man wrestling with his own underlying insecurity. The author shows therapists, teachers, and parents how they can help young men and women extricate themselves from these often near-fatal attractions.