Conservative And Radical Perspectives On Psychoanalytic Knowledge

Psychoanalysis really should not exist today. Until a few years ago, most of the evidence suggested that its time was drawing to a close, and yet psychoanalysis demonstrated remarkable resilience in the face of criticism, alongside significant resurgence over the course of the last years. In "Conservative and Radical Perspectives on Psychoanalytic Knowledge: The Fascinated and the Disenchanted" psychoanalyst and philosopher Aner Govrin describes the mechanisms of sociology within the psychoanalytic community which have enabled it to withstand the hostility levelled at it and to flourish as an intellectual and pragmatic endeavour. He defends the most criticized aspect of psychoanalysis: the fascination of analysts with their theories. Govrin demonstrates that fascination is a common phenomenon in science and shows its role in the evolution of psychoanalysis. Govrin argues that throughout its history, psychoanalysis has successfully embraced an amalgam of what he has defined and termed "fascinated" and "troubled communities." A "fascinated community" is a group that embraces a psychoanalytic theory (such as Bion's, Klein's, Winnicott s) as one embraces truth. A "troubled community" is one that is not satisfied with the state of psychoanalytic knowledge and seeks to generate a fundamental change that does not square with existing traditions (such as new psychoanalytic schools, scientifically troubled communities and the relational approach). It is this amalgam and the continuous tension between these two groups that are responsible for psychoanalysis' rich and varied development and for its ability to adapt to a changing world. Clinical vignettes from the work of Robert Stolorow, Betty Joseph, Antonino Ferro and Michael Eigen illustrate the dynamic by which psychoanalytic knowledge is formed. "Conservative and Radical Perspectives on Psychoanalytic Knowledge" will be of interest to psychoanalysts, psychotherapists and philosophers alike.

The Routledge International Handbook of Psychoanalysis and Philosophy provides a rich panoramic view of what philosophy offers or disturbs in psychoanalysis and what it represents for psychoanalytic theory and practice. The thirty-three chapters present a broad range of interfaces and reciprocities between various aspects of psychoanalysis and philosophy. It demonstrates the vital connection between the two disciplines: psychoanalysis cannot make any practical sense if it is not entirely perceived within a philosophical context. Written by a team of world-leading experts, including established scholars, psychoanalysts and emerging talents, the Handbook investigates and discusses the psychoanalytic schools and their philosophical underpinning, as well as contemporary applied topics. Organized into five sections, this volume investigates and discusses how psychoanalysis stands in relation to leading philosophies such as Wittgenstein, Heidegger, Nietzsche, and Kant; philosophical perspectives on psychoanalytic schools such as Freud, Klein, Bion, Kohut, and Lacan; how psychoanalysis addresses controversial topics in philosophy such as truth, language and symbolism, ethics, and theories of mind. The last section addresses contemporary applied subjects in psychoanalytic thought: colonialism, gender, race, and ecology. This Handbook offers a novel and comprehensive outlook vital for scholars, philosophers, practicing psychoanalysts and therapists alike. The book will serve as a source for courses in psychoanalysis, philosophy of science, epistemology, ethics, semiotics, cognitive science, consciousness, gender, race, post-colonialism theories, clinical theory, Freud's studies, both in universities and psychoanalytic training programs and institutes.

From its very inception, psychoanalysis has been a discipline encompassing two contradictory tendencies. This dualistic tendency – tradition alongside disenchantment and the will to improve knowledge – is likely responsible for psychoanalysis’s powerful capacity to survive. In Innovations in Psychoanalysis: Originality, Development, Progress, Aner Govrin and Jon Mills bring together the most eminent and diverse psychoanalysts to reflect upon the evolution, vitality, and richness of psychoanalysis today. Psychoanalysis is undergoing significant transformations involving the entire spectrum of disciplinary differences. This book illuminates these transformations, importantly revealing the innovations in technique, the evolving understanding of theory within existing schools of thought, the need for empirical resurgence, innovations in infant research, neuropsychoanalysis, in the development of new interventions and methods of treatment, and in philosophical and metatheoretical paradigms. Uniquely bringing together psychoanalysts representing different fields of expertise, the contributors answer two questions in this collection of ground-breaking essays: "What are the most important developments in psychoanalysis today?" and "What impact has your chosen perspective had on conducting psychoanalytic treatment?" Their thought-provoking and challenging answers are essential for anyone who wants to fully understand the field of psychoanalysis in our changing, current world. Innovations in Psychoanalysis brings a whole array of differing schools of thought in dialogue with one another and will be of interest to psychoanalysts, psychologists, psychotherapists, philosophers, and historians of the behavioral sciences worldwide.

Does God Doubt? shows that Rabbi Gershon Henoch Leiner of Radzin considered God to be revealed as doubt. Thus, according to this profound and important nineteenth-century Hasidic leader, doubt is an essential aspect of the human condition, and especially of religious life. His position is shown to be remarkably bold and unique compared to kabbalistic writing, and especially to the Hasidic worlds to which he belonged. At the same time, the roots of his thought are located in earlier discussions of doubt as one of the highest parts of the divine world. Doubt about, in, and of God is part of the Hasidic contribution to modernity.

This book, the second of the two volumes, continues to chart the ways in which psychoanalytic psychotherapy has been implemented, developed and researched within the public sectors of six different countries around the world. It discusses psychoanalytic practitioners locally have responded to the challenge of evidence-based practice. For each country the authors describe: • How people can access talking therapies as part of the national healthcare system, including a brief history of how this system has developed and the place of psychoanalytic psychotherapy inside/outside of this system historically • How clinicians train and qualify as a psychoanalytic practitioner, and demographic profiles of their communities of psychoanalytic practice • How evidence-based practice has impacted the mental health system and, in particular, access to and provision of talking therapies e.g. through the development and implementation of treatment guidelines • How outcome monitoring and reporting of access, waiting times and recovery rates are used in the commissioning and provision of psychological therapies • What is needed to secure a viable future for psychoanalytic psychotherapy The book concludes with a comprehensive review of changes in public sector psychoanalytic psychotherapy across Europe over the last 30 years and will be of great interest to all practicing psychoanalysts and psychoanalytic psychotherapists. The chapters in these volumes were originally published as a special issue of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy.

The great existential psychiatrist Ludwig Binswanger famously pointed out to Freud that therapeutic failure could "only be understood as the result of something which could be called a deficiency of spirit." Binswanger was surprised when Freud agreed, asserting, "Yes, spirit is everything." However, spirit and the spiritual realm have largely been dropped from mainstream psychoanalytic theory and practice. This book seeks to help revitalize a culturally aging psychoanalysis that is in conceptual and clinical disarray in the marketplace of ideas and is viewed as a "theory in crisis" no longer regarded as the primary therapy for those who are suffering. The author argues that psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy can be reinvigorated as a discipline if it is animated by the powerfully evocative spiritual, moral, and ethical insights of two dialogical personalist religious philosophers—Martin Buber, a Jew, and Gabriel Marcel, a Catholic—who both initiated a "Copernican revolution" in human thought. In chapters that focus on love, work, faith, suffering, and clinical practice, Paul Marcus shows how the spiritual optic of Buber and Marcel can help revive and refresh psychoanalysis, and bring it back into the light by communicating its inherent vitality, power, and relevance to the mental health community and to those who seek psychoanalytic treatment.

In May 2015, the 1st IWA Congress and the XX Winnicott International Colloquium was held in the city of São Paulo. Members of the International Winnicott Association (IWA) from different countries met to discuss the relationship between Winnicott's thought and the future of psychoanalysis. This book contains most of the papers delivered on that occasion and reflects the diversity of approaches marking the event. In the following pages the reader will find multiple ways of thinking about the place of Winnicott's theory and practice in the face of the future of psychoanalysis and the challenges – current and future – raised by our society. Loparic, Z. e Ribeiro, V. C (orgs.): Winnicott and the Future of Psychoanalysis. São Paulo: DWW editorial, 2017. An IWA e-book.

This book examines tolerance as a concept under crisis, exploring its origin and functions, and how it can be at risk of replacement by moral intolerance or retributive justice in turbulent societies. Tolerance - A Concept in Crisis considers the contributions that can be made to understanding and elaborating tolerance, and its counterpart intolerance, by psychoanalysis and group analysis. The contributors, representing a range of countries, backgrounds, and specialisms, consider five key themes: conceptual and emotional challenges, tolerance and psychoanalysis, tolerance and group analysis, tolerance and the socio-political, and tolerance and intolerance in organizations and institutes. The project suggests that tolerance is an outcome of developmental processes (emotional, intrapsychic, intersubjective, and social) to agree and contain disagreement as part of mutual belonging. It also considers how it might be taken too far. The concept of tolerance is examined through its valid contributions to diversity and reduction of discrimination, promoting reflexive scepticism, critical pluralism, and durable forgiveness. Tolerance - A Concept in Crisis will be of great interest to psychoanalysts and group analysts facing issues of conflict and its resolutions, as well as other professionals who are seeking new perspectives on tolerance.