ABSTRACT
The British psychoanalyst Neville Symington wrote this literary and clinical paper, which was published in the International Journal of Psychoanalysis in 1980. Although arguably he overestimates the emotional and moral development of psychopathic persons—implying love, guilt, and a rigid morality—he ventures with great clinical insight into the countertransference aroused by these patients. His exposition of our collusion, disbelief, and condemnation when encountering a psychopath is masterful. He shows especially keen insight into our disbelief and condemnation as superego defenses against our own sadism: impulses to be cruel and vengeful toward psychopathically disturbed patients, who often deeply hurt and betray others.
