Developments In Psycho Analysis

Psychoanalysis is a science evidently fore-ordained to growth and expansion, and among those who have extended the scope of both theory and practice Melanie Klein holds a unique place. This book is a survey of the developments in psychoanalytical knowledge resulting from her work. Her main discoveries relate to the very early phases of mental life. She recognized that the world of unconscious feeling and impulse (which we call 'phantasy') is the effective source of all human actions and reactions, modified though they are when translated into actual external behaviour or conscious thought. Although Freud first enunciated this truth, which originates in his fundamental discovery of the unconscious mind of man, he left many problems still unsolved. These have been brought nearer to a solution through Melanie Klein's consistent awareness of the significance of unconscious phantasy. Not only students of psychoanalysis and workers in related medical fields but also practising child-psychologists and the informed lay public will find this book of absorbing interest.

Clara Thompson was a leading representative of the cultural interpersonal school of psychoanalysis, sometimes known as the "neo-Freudians," which included Karen Horney, Erich Fromm, and Harry Stack Sullivan. "Classical analysts" once viewed neo-Freudians with the greatest suspicion and mistrust, yet today they can be seen for the innovative group of thinkers they were. Thompson's Psychoanalysis: Evolution and Development, first published in 1950, remains an enormously fair-minded discussion of the history of psychoanalytic theory and therapy. Psychoanalysis has always been a theory of personality as well as a technique of therapy. Since Freud was born in 1856, and was an outstanding representative of the culture of old Vienna, Thompson thought there was plenty of room for revising classical analytic thinking in light of later developments. Such revisionism, she believed, need not lose the essential appreciation of the dynamic unconscious within classical analysis. However, Thompson felt Freud's biological outlook needed to be supplemented by a culturally more sophisticated orientation, and she was among those who tried to put Freud's concepts of libido into historical perspective. Instead of psychoanalysis having as its objective the release of tensions, Thompson proposed that the goal of analysis ought to be the growth of the total personality. Her revisionism also meant that the scope of psychoanalytic treatment could be broadened well beyond the neuroses Freud sought to explain. Thompson well understood the impact of the social environment on character formation. The psychology of women needed to be rethought; differences between men and women could be partly explained by the social expectations that traditional Western culture had imposed on them. Thompson believed the whole analyst-patient relationship needed to be rethought; the real personality of the therapist has to be acknowledged, and the full human interplay between patient and analyst required examination. In the current positivistic therapeutic climate based on technological advances in psychopharmacology, the ethical and humanistic dimension may be lost. Reflecting on the work of Clara Thompson and the neo-Freudian school can remind us of earlier efforts to challenge therapeutic authority and their distinct relevance to our problems today.

Emotional Development in Psychoanalysis, Attachment Theory and Neuroscience is a multi-disciplinary overview of psychological and emotional development, from infancy through to adulthood. Uniquely, it integrates research and concepts from psychology and neurophysiology with psychoanalytic thinking, providing an unusually rich and balanced perspective on the subject. Written by leaders in their field, the chapters cover: * biological and neurological factors in the unconscious and memory * the link between genetics and attachment * the early relationship and the growth of emotional life * the importance of a developmental framework to inform psychoanalytic work * clinical work Drawing on a wide range of detailed case studies with subjects across childhood and adolescence, this book provides a ground-breaking insight into how very different schools of thought can work together to achieve clinical success in work with particularly difficult young patients. Emotional Development in Psychoanalysis, Attachment Theory and Neuroscience represents the latest knowledge beneficial to child psychiatrists and child psychotherapists, as well as social workers, psychologists, health visitors and specialist teachers.

Psychoanalysis of the Psychoses brings together a distinguished international set of contributors, offering a range of views and approaches, to explore the latest thinking in the psychoanalytic treatment of psychosis and related disorders. Drawing on findings from neuroscience, theory and clinical material from many schools of psychoanalytic thought, this book offers a comprehensive guide to understanding how psychosis is conceptualised from a psychoanalytic perspective. It looks at how to work with psychotic patients, typical problems in treating psychosis and the role of pharmacology. It demonstrates the relational dimension, capable of strengthening the patient’s observing Ego and facilitating the integration of the different areas of the personality. This process can identify and work through the main psychological stress factors involved in psychotic disturbances, transforming chaotic thoughts into springboards for important insights, and offering patients the precious chance to construct for the first time a creative relationship with their own existence. Psychoanalysis of the Psychoses will be of great interest to psychoanalysts and psychoanalytic psychotherapists as well as psychiatrists wishing to draw upon psychoanalytic ideas in their work.

This is a new release of the original 1925 edition.

A collection of short poems, including "Mud Pies a Penny," "Let's Count the Raindrops," and "Zoo's Who."