This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citing articles on Web of Science (2)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Psychopathological Antecedents and Transformations

Harry Trosman, MD

Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1974;30(5):709-717.

Abstract
T. S. Eliot's major poem, The Waste Land, is considered a profound expression for the sense of alienation and meaninglessness that many have found characteristic of the spirit of the modern era. The poem was written by Eliot after a series of personal crises that eventuated in exhaustion and depression and a brief period of psychotherapy. His illness can be characterized as a tranistory narcissistic regression with partial fragmentation and loss of ego dominance. Through the help of his psychiatrist, Roger Vittoz, a benign, supporting super-ego figure, and his collaborative alter-ego, Ezra Pound, with whom he formed a self-confirming, mirroring transference, Eliot was able to return to creative work and use the experience of his illness to add a new dimension to English literature.

Author Affiliations
Chicago

From the Department of Psychiatry, University of Chicago.

Footnotes
Accepted for publication Jan 7, 1974.

Reprint requests to Department of Psychiatry, University of Chicago, 950 E 59th St, Chicago, IL 60637 (Dr. Trosman).

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?