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James Hillman
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Suicide and the Soul Paperback – April 2, 1998

by James Hillman (Author)
4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 88 ratings
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With this book Hillman initiated the “soul movement” in psychotherapy forty years ago.
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  1. Print length
    204 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Spring Publications
  4. Publication date
    April 2, 1998
  5. Dimensions
    6.02 x 0.54 x 9.01 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0882142275
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0882142272
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

The pioneering imaginative psychology of James Hillman that soon will span five decades has entered cultural history, affecting lives and minds in a wide range of fields. For the creativity of his thinking, the originator of Archetypal Psychology and author of A Terrible Love of War; The Soul's Code; and The Force of Character has received many honors, including the Medal of the Presidency of the Italian Republic. He has held distinguished lectureships at Yale, Princeton, Chicago, and Syracuse Universities, and his books have been translated into some twenty languages. The American public showed its appreciation of his approach to psychology by placing his book, The Soul's Code, at the top of the bestseller list of serious works of nonfiction. Of his many books, Spring Publications has published Anima, Loose Ends, Archetypal Psychology: A Brief Account, Pan and the Nightmare, Suicide and the Soul, Insearch, Oedipus Variations (with Karl Kerényi), The Thought of the Heart and the Soul of the World, Inter Views, and Lectures on Jung's Typology (with Marie-Louise von Franz). He lives in Connecticut.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Spring Publications; Subsequent edition (April 2, 1998)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 204 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0882142275
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0882142272
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.02 x 0.54 x 9.01 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 88 ratings

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James Hillman

James Hillman

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Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
4.8 out of 5
88 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

DreamerPriest
5.0 out of 5 stars Enlightening Read
Reviewed in the United States on November 6, 2020
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I was first introduced to James Hillman's work through The Soul's Code. He has a way of presenting psychological concepts in a way a layman like me understands. This work is no different. I've often wondered if there was something more to suicidal ideation than mental illness. Something more going on than individual weakness per se. While his did discussion of suicide and the soul didn't lead to the hypothesis i thought it might lead the reader into considering, it nevertheless is a thought provoking and compassionate consideration. His afterword beautifully sums up for a literalist like me all that he was originally trying to present when he first published his thoughts on this subject.
3 people found this helpful
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Daruma
5.0 out of 5 stars Profound Insights into Life and Death
Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 2022
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This book will make you think about suicide, life, despair, and even Absolute Reality, God, in new ways, and, most importantly, in ways that will banish materialistic conclusions about Life. Dated and written before Panpsychism opened our eyes about Consciousness and Reality, it is still one of the most important books one can study.
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Toolshed
5.0 out of 5 stars NOT a religious self help book. Reframes the Way One Thinks About the Subject
Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2018
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A very intelligent, thoughtful book on a difficult subject. It is not religious or clinical in its approach. It is definitely not a pop-psychology self-help book. If you have thought about it. tried it, know someone who did, or study psychology, Hillman will change the way you conceptualize the subject.
12 people found this helpful
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Maree McRae
5.0 out of 5 stars A most wonderful perspective and very true
Reviewed in the United States on June 6, 2019
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What a wonderful perspective, instead of defining suicide from the outside we must start understanding it from the inside.
3 people found this helpful
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Katya Prokina
5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful thought on taboo topic
Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2014
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It's so explanatory of what's going on in our world these days. Helps you to distinguish between feelings, attitudes. Loved this book.
8 people found this helpful
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Julie
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United States on November 10, 2014
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Fascinated. Learnt heaps. Now have awareness around this subject.
2 people found this helpful
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shirley whitaker
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2017
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Superb product
3 people found this helpful
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Mary B
5.0 out of 5 stars Iconic
Reviewed in the United States on November 3, 2010
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Hillman delivers - and like many Jungian writers, he wanders all of soul's territory and Jung's theories. It's provocative and insightful.
14 people found this helpful
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Don Ollsin
5.0 out of 5 stars awesome deep book
Reviewed in Canada on December 6, 2023
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Highly recommend. Hillman is a great writer. He explores the subject with depth and opens it up to the reader.
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Lex
5.0 out of 5 stars Sublime
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 12, 2020
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James Hillman has a way with words. And he has a way with thoughts. And he has a way with life itself.

His respect for the soul of the analysand is so great that, in Suicide and the Soul, he forbids the analyst from trying overtly to "save" them from suicidal thoughts. He implores the analysts not to bring the medical mode of thought into the consulting room. He implores the analyst to acknowledge the suicidal person's willingness to die as the very core of their agency. Denying this agency in the name of "commitment to saving life" simply kills the analysand's soul.

This may be shocking to read, at first. Is Hillman really advising the analyst not to try to save the analysands' lives?

No. He simply proposes that the only way to save their lives is to save their souls first——and to save their souls, you need to acknowledge their willingness to die. You can then proceed to sit beside them in the absolute darkness of their isolation so that they may feel a little less isolated... and, in due course, they may come out of the darkness on their own accord.

This is a priceless book for me. I have read it only once and I am still processing it after months. I will be reading it over and over again...
3 people found this helpful
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Sun
5.0 out of 5 stars Profound
Reviewed in Australia on October 13, 2023
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This is written intelligently, thankfully leaving out the often moralistic and unexamined hard truths of life. I highly recommend.
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HOANG THUY DUNG
4.0 out of 5 stars A lire avant de songer à se suicider
Reviewed in France on April 4, 2014
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Le suicide a toujours été condamné par la morale qui le considère comme une tentative de la part du suicidaire de se désolidariser de la société à laquelle il appartient, ainsi que par la religion, dans la mesure où le suicide est interprété comme un acte de rébellion contre Dieu. Hillman refuse donc de traiter le problème par ces biais. Il répugne également à l’aborder d’un point de vue purement médical qui considère qu’il faut à tout prix préserver la vie, quitte à recourir à des calmants ou à l’internement.
S’inspirant de la psychothérapie Jungienne, il essai plutôt de se mettre à la place du patient pour comprendre par quel cheminement de l’esprit le patient en est arrivé à considérer le suicide comme seule solution possible. Car il s’agit bien d’une maladie de l’âme, quand lasse de souffrir de ne plus trouver d’espoir dans une vie qui le lui refuse, elle s’apprête à la quitter pour le retrouver ailleurs. De ce point de vue, le suicidaire est donc un être tout à fait normal, logique et il faut rechercher dans son parcours émotionnel, « l’historique de son âme » comme il l’appelle, ce qui a pu dérailler, et rechercher l’explication dans l »’inconscient collectif » tel que Jung l'a défini.
Il est donc clair que cette psychothérapie ne garantit en aucune façon que le suicidaire va renoncer à son projet, si le médecin n’arrive pas à le convaincre que tant qu’il y aura de la vie, il y aura de l’espoir. La frontière entre la psychanalyse et la philosophie est donc très mince.
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gavin mercer
5.0 out of 5 stars Soul based Psyche-ology.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 6, 2020
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This is a very early book of hillman. As you'd expect it argues not to medicalize even extreme unhappiness but to treat it as a symptom of Soul. After reading, the issue weighed heavily on my mind for a while going over the various arguments. Yes hillman will get you questioning; it's the mark, I think, of a great writer.
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