Changing Conceptions of Psychoanalysis


Book Description

This outstanding memorial volume records and reassesses the contributions of Merton M. Gill (1914-1994), a principal architect of psychoanalytic theory and a principled exemplar of the modern psychoanalytic sensibility throughout the second half of the 20th century. Critical evaluations of Gill's place in psychoanalysis and a series of personal and professional reminiscences are joined to substantive reengagement of central controversies in which Gill played a key part. These controversies revolve around the "natural science" versus "hermeneutic" orientation in psychoanalysis (Holt, Eagle, Friedman); the status of psychoanalysis as a one-person and/or two-person psychology (Jacobs, Silverman); pyschoanalysis versus psychotherapy (Wallerstein, Migone, Gedo); and the meaning and use of transference (Kernberg, Wolitzky, Cooper).




Changing Notions of the Feminine


Book Description

As culture changes, so do notions of the feminine. Today, women are exploring new gender identities, gender dynamics, and family configurations. They are questioning and redefining what it is to be feminine and expressing different attitudes toward motherhood. These issues have challenged classic psychoanalytic theory and practice. In this timely collection, a range of prominent psychoanalysts confront and explore their prejudices about changing notions of the feminine, and how it impacts their work. In a period of transition, these issues are present in the clinical material of female patients, and in the material of male patients who struggle in their complementary roles as partners and fathers. But how analysts listen and give meaning to clinical material is significantly affected by the analyst’s own prejudices, her implicit and explicit theories, as well as her subjective view of the world. Discussing topics such as the expression of power, the compatibility of assertiveness and ambition with the feminine, and the psychoanalytic impact of the spread of new reproductive techniques, this important and far-reaching book will be essential reading for any psychoanalyst or psychotherapist who wishes to engage actively with the sociocultural moment in which they work.




Change Through Time in Psychoanalysis


Book Description

Change Through Time in Psychoanalysis presents a new stage of the work done through the IPA Committee on Clinical Observation between 2014 and 2020—the advances in our method, the Three Level Model (3-LM), and our clinical thinking. In this new volume, ideas on observational research, clinical narratives based on 3-LM group discussions, and adaptations of the model for training candidates show more experience, more depth, more answers, and, of course, new questions. Contributors from three regions of the IPA have written extended case studies of 10 psychoanalyses, rich in verbatim session material, focusing on the main dimensions of the patient’s psychic functioning, specific changes in the analytic process, and related interventional strategies. The reader will find, in the method and in the clinical narratives, new and clarifying points of view in the observation of transformations in patients in psychoanalysis and of the analysts’ techniques, useful both in professional development and in teaching candidates.




Moments of Meeting in Psychoanalysis


Book Description

There are moments of connection between analysts and patients during any therapeutic encounter upon which the therapy can turn. Moments of Meeting in Psychoanalysis explores how analysts and therapists can experience these moments of meeting, shows how this interaction can become an enlivening and creative process, and seeks to recognise how it can change both the analyst and patient in profound and fundamental ways. The theory and practice of contemporary psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy has reached an exciting new moment of generous and generative interaction. As psychoanalysts become more intersubjective and relational in their work, it becomes increasingly critical that they develop approaches that have the capacity to harness and understand powerful moments of meeting, capable of propelling change through the therapeutic relationship. Often these are surprising human moments in which both client and clinician are moved and transformed. Moments of Meeting in Psychoanalysis offers a window into the ways in which some of today’s practitioners think about, encourage, and work with these moments of meeting in their practices. Each chapter of the book offers theoretical material, case examples, and a discussion of various therapists’ reflections on and experiences with these moments of meeting. With contributions from relational psychoanalysts, psychotherapists and Jungian analysts, and covering essential topics such as shame, impasse, mindfulness, and group work, this book offers new theoretical thinking and practical clinical guidance on how best to work with moments of meeting in any relationally oriented therapeutic practice. Moments of Meeting in Psychoanalysis will be of great interest to psychoanalysts, psychoanalytic psychotherapists, psychologists, social workers, workers in other mental health fields, graduate students, and anyone interested in change processes.




Engaging with Climate Change


Book Description

This book explores what climate change means to people. It brings members of a range of disciplines in the social sciences together in discussion, introducing a psychoanalytic perspective.




Psychoanalysis


Book Description

In this important book, experts in the field survey current psychoanalytic theory, discussing its principles, technical aspects, clinical phenomena, and applications. The book is both an introduction to and a statement of mainstream American psychoanalysis today and will be a standard reference for psychoanalytic trainees, authors, and teachers. Under the direction of the editors and a distinguished panel of advisors, the contributors present a broad overview of more than forty key clinical and theoretical concepts. They define each concept, trace its historical development within psychoanalysis, describe its present status, discuss criticisms and controversies about it, and point out emerging trends. A selected reference list is supplied for each concept. Together, the articles provide a systematic examination of the theoretical infrastructure of psychoanalysis. The book has been designed as a companion volume to Psychoanalytic Terms and Concepts, a glossary edited by Drs. Moore and Fine under the auspices of the American Psychoanalytic Association.




Relational Concepts in Psychoanalysis


Book Description

There are more psychoanalytic theories today than anyone knows what to do with, and the heterogeneity and complexity of the entire body of psychoanalytic though have become staggering. In Relational Concepts in Psychoanalysis, Stephen A. Mitchell weaves strands from the principal relational-model traditions (interpersonal psychoanalysis, British school object-relations theories, self psychology, and existential psychoanalysis) into a comprehensive approach to many of the knottiest problems and controversies in theoretical and clinical psychoanalysis. Mitchell’s earlier book, Object Relations in Psychoanalytic Theory, co-authored with Jay Greenberg, set the stage for this current integration by providing a broad comparative analysis of important thinking on the nature of human relationships. In that classic study Greenberg and Mitchell distinguished between two basic paradigms: the drive model, in which relations with others are generated and shaped by the need for drive gratifications, and various relational models, in which relations themselves are taken as primary and irreducible. In Relational Concepts in Psychoanalysis, Mitchell argues that the drive model has since outlived its usefulness. The relational model, on the other hand, has been developed piecemeal by different authors who rarely acknowledge and explore the commonality of their assumptions or the rich complementarity of their perspectives. In this bold effort at integrative theorizing, Mitchell draws together major lines of relational-model traditions into a unified framework for psychoanalytic thought, more economical than the anachronistic drive model and more inclusive than any of the singular relational approaches to the core significance of sexuality, the impact of early experience, the relation of the past to the present, the interpenetration of illusion and actuality, the centrality of the will, the repetition of painful experience, the nature of analytic situation, and the process of analytic change. As such, his book will be required reading for psychoanalytic scholars, practitioners, candidates in psychoanalysis, and students in the field.




Contemporary Psychoanalysis in America


Book Description

This book is a unique and superb gateway to current psychoanalytic thinking. Thirty of America's foremost psychoanalysts -- leaders in defining the current pluralistic state of the profession -- have each presented what they consider to be their most significant contribution to the field. No mere anthology, these are the key writings that underlie current discussions of psychoanalytic theory and technique. The chapters cover contemporary ideas of intersubjectivity, object relations theory, self psychology, relational psychoanalysis, hermeneutics, clinical technique, changing concepts of unconscious, empirical research, infant observation, gender and sexuality, and more. While the differences in point of view are profound, there is also a striking coherence on some core issues. Each of the contributions features an introduction by the volume editor and a note by the author explaining the rationale for its selection. The brilliant introduction by Peter Fonagy provides an overview and places each author in the context of contemporary psychoanalysis. A list of the authors may convey the astonishing breadth of this volume:Brenner, Bromberg, Busch, Chodorow, Cooper, Emde, Friedman, Gabbard, Goldberg, Greenberg, Grossman, Hoffman, Jacobs, Kantrowitz, Kernberg, Levenson, Luborsky, Michels, Ogden, Ornstein, Person, Pine, Renik, Schafer, Schwaber, Shapiro, Smith, Stern, Stolorow, Wallerstein This is a "best of the best" volume -- cutting-edge writing, highly accessible and studded with vivid clinical illustrations. Anyone wishing to acquire a comprehensive, authoritative, readily accessible -- even entertaining -- guide to American psychoanalytic thinking will find their goal fulfilled in this monumental collection.




Psychoanalytic Terms and Concepts


Book Description

Dictionary of terms with definitions, historical relevance, and relation to other terms and concepts. Entries are explanatory, often lengthy, and contain references and cross references.




Psychoanalysis in an Age of Accelerating Cultural Change


Book Description

Psychoanalysis in an Age of Accelerating Cultural Change: Spiritual Globalization addresses the current status of mental health work in the public and private sectors. The careful, thorough, approach to the individual person characteristic of psychoanalysis is mostly the province of an affluent few. Meanwhile, community-based mental health treatment, given shrinking budgets, tends to emphasize medication and short-term therapies. In an increasingly diverse society, considerations of culture in mental health treatment are given short shrift, despite obligatory nods to cultural competence. The field of mental health has suffered from the mutual isolation of psychoanalysis, community-based clinical work, and cultural studies. Here, Neil Altman shows how these areas of study and practice require and enrich each other - the field of psychoanalysis benefits by engaging marginalized communities; community-based clinical work benefits from psychoanalytic concepts, while all forms of clinical work benefit from awareness of culture. Including reports of clinical experiences and programmatic developments from around the world, its international scope explores the operation of culture and cultural differences in conceptions of mental health. In addition the book addresses the origin and treatment of mental illness, from notions of spirit possession treated by shamans, to conceptions of psychic trauma, to biological understandings and pharmacological treatments. In the background of this discussion is globalization, the impact of which is tracked in terms of its psychological effects on people, as well as on the resources and programs available to provide psychological care around the world. As a unique examination of current mental health work, this book will appeal to psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, community-based mental health workers, and students in Cultural Studies. Neil Altman is a psychoanalytic psychologist, Visiting Professor at Ambedkar University of Delhi, India, and faculty and supervisor at the William Alanson White Institute. He is an Honorary Member of the William Alanson White Society and Editor Emeritus of Psychoanalytic Dialogues. Author of The Analyst in the Inner City: Race, Class, and Culture through a Psychoanalytic Lens (Routledge, 2nd edition, 2010)