ABSTRACT
Fleshing out the previous chapter on the psychocultural roots of fame, the author draws upon his extensive clinical psychotherapeutic experience to provide case histories of several patients who sought fame in an obsessive manner. In each case, the process of psychotherapy revealed hidden stories of trauma which contributed hugely, and painfully, to the lust for recognition. In this essay, Kahr has elucidated four different subtypes of what he has come to refer to as “creativity bereavement”, namely, a state of mind in which patients express severe regret and, often, depression, because they have never fulfilled their often grandiose childhood dreams of fame and conquest. The subtypes of creativity bereavement include such phenomena as the writer’s block, disillusionment, lack of creativity due to ageing or disability and, additionally, the unfulfillable fantasy of achieving immortal genius.
