Abstract
Manuals for clinical practice arrive in numbers and in force, threatening the first of the particular with the first of a philosophy. Yet the individual with no manual but his/her own particularities is likely to suffer and make others suffer. Thus, respect for the quest to discover a manual coupled with persistence in rejecting all that come along seems a responsible course of action. If this struggle is embraced, it may generate a fecund state of mental tension, prone to surprises and sudden inspirations, which the writer calls dii-consciousness. For a dii-conscious clinician, manuals for treatment exist like violets in the wild. One searches and picks; the flower wilts, is discarded; one walks on and more are found. The author plucks a treatment manual from the film under discussion, considering diagnosis, theory, and practice in detail. Yet this manual must be discarded on the path, its truth no preservative against wilting.
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Detrixhe, J. Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac: Vol. I as psychotherapy manual. Psychoanal Cult Soc 22, 52–68 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1057/pcs.2015.55
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/pcs.2015.55