At a scientific level, Akhtar explains the complexities underlying the human emotions of love, hate, hope, nostalgia, envy, and arrogance. At a poetic level, he relates these emotions to our day-to-day life in a clear and stimulating manner.

Henk-Jan Dalewijk, Amsterdam

Salman Akhtar is not only a scholarly scientist but also a poet who listens with a fresh ear and talks with a fresh tongue. In the Winnicott tradition, he avoids jargon and finds a new use for a familiar word. The poet analyst comes close to his patients. The scientist analyst asks vital questions and searches for their answers. Inner Torment is a good book by a good man!

Saide Gillespie, London

Akhtar integrates controversial psychoanalytic conceptualizations with his own scholarly thinking and expert outlook on technique. Moving between old and new, Freud and post-Freudians, separation-individuation experiences and oedipal conflicts, an intrapsychic and interpersonal dimensions, his powerful book becomes a landmark in the understanding and treatment of difficult patients.

Jacquline Amati-Mehler, Rome