The book criticizes the attempts to diagnose Nietzsche as suffering from various psychiatric disorders, psychoanalyze him as a fatherless child grown old, and outing him as a closet homosexual. These approaches lead to a dead-end. Firstly, it is impossible to prove that someone is a paragon of mental health, not a covert homosexual, and unmoved by a parent’s death. Secondly, these speculations explain only a small part of Nietzsche’s personal statements, found in his writings. Thirdly, and most importantly, they do not change our understanding of his ideas and how they were arrived at; they do not increase our appreciation of him; and do not leave us with any lessons for life (the goal of any good writing according to Nietzsche).
Uri Wernik, Psy.D is a senior clinical and medical psychologist, and certified sex therapist. He is in private practice and his work experience includes heading a unit for autistic adolescents in a psychiatric hospital, working with staff and students in an Academy of Art and Design, and facilitating groups for bereaved parents.
Dr. Wernik is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is a founding member and former chairman of The Israeli Association for Sex Therapy, and a member of the board of directors of Transtherapy.org. He is the author of Nietzschean Psychology and Psychotherapy: The new doctors of the soul (Lexington Books: Lanham, Maryland, 2016), Chance Action Therapy: The playful way of changing (New York, Nova Science Publishers, 2010), and eight books in Hebrew, among them I Qoheleth [Ecclesiastes]: Psychologist, Philosopher, Poet (Jerusalem: Carmel, 1998). He also published articles on psychotherapy, sexuality, psychology of religion, and creativity. Additional information can be found at his website http://www.therapy.co.il