Theft Through the Ages

Abstract

The Psychology of Theft and Loss by Jungian analyst Robert Tyminski brings a Jungian perspective to examples of stealing and cheating, both inside and outside the consulting room. The author interweaves two strands: the mythic (Jason and the Golden Fleece) and the clinical (children and adults who steal). The author acknowledges the contribution of D. W. Winnicott to the idea of “hopeful stealing,” that is, theft that attempts to redress symbolically what has been psychologically stolen from a child or adult. He widens his discussion to include antisocial and sadistically motivated theft, financial theft and fraud, and those who steal out of necessity.

Keywords::

• Argonauts
• financial theft
• Golden Fleece
• Jason myth
• Jungian analysis
• loss
• Medea
• myth
• symbolic stealing
• Winnicott

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ellen Y. Siegelman

Ellen Y. Siegelman, PhD, is an analyst member of the C. G. Jung Institute of San Francisco and has taught in both its analytic training program and its programs for professionals. She has published two books—Personal Risk (Harper & Row, 1985), which was cited as a Distinguished Contribution to the Media by the American Psychological Association, and Metaphor and Meaning in Psychotherapy (Guilford Press, 1990)—as well as a number of reviews and clinical articles. One of her major interests is the affective language used by analyst and patient in analysis, a subject that ties in with her passion for poetry and fiction. She has a private practice in Berkeley, California. Correspondence:[email protected].