The Viennese psychoanalyst Theodor Reik was a beloved student, collaborator, and lifelong friend of Sigmund Freud. In this work, he makes a clear distinction between the desire to love and our need to be loved, addressing the fundamental issues that arise from the latter, using characteristic examples from the arts, literature, and everyday life.

- Is it a "normal" need?
- When does it take on pathological characteristics of neurosis or psychosis?
- What is its relationship to narcissism, masochism, and erotomania?
- How does it manifest in children, men, women, and the elderly?
- In what forms does it appear and how is it related to guilt, anxiety, sex, or love?