Foundations For Conceptual Research In Psychoanalysis

In clear language and with an extraordinary depth of scholarship, Dreher describes the history of psychoanalytic research and dissects the structure of empirical and conceptual research endeavours.

In clear language and with an extraordinary depth of scholarship, Dreher describes the history of psychoanalytic research and dissects the structure of empirical and conceptual research endeavours.

The normal approach to the study of the foundations of psychoanalysis is to focus on Sigmund Freud's classical texts. In this book, however, the author approaches the issue from the perspective of the foundations of behavioural sciences in general. He studies the nature of psychological terms and explanations, and the relation between neuroscience and psychology. Due to the wide perspective, the author is able to create a fresh view to the stubborn debate concerning the scientific status of psychoanalysis. The author shows that both advocates and critics of psychoanalysis have a tendency to misconstrue the nature of psychoanalytic theorizing, and thus have had unrealistic expectations of psychoanalytic explanations. The book tries to differentiate between those aspects of psychoanalysis which should be considered scientific, and those aspects of psychotherapies in general which should not come into the scientific category. This books will be found to be a valuable contribution to the field of psychoanalytic studies.

This book offers different theoretical approaches about what clinical research is. Clinical Research in Psychoanalysis is a unique contribution to the attempts to bridge the gap between clinicians and researchers and to create a culture of a more rigorous and systematic inquiry. It provides an innovative experience because for the first time different methods and perspectives were used to analyse one same clinical material. This was done by analysts from different working parties of the International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA), from a range of different schools of psychoanalytic thought. This allows the reader to have a vision of the different methods that are currently being used by some working parties of the IPA and to learn about the strengths of each one for certain situations and types of research. This book revaluates clinical research, intending to make links between the analysts working through the working parties and the different ways of thinking in clinical research. By covering key topics, such as how working parties can facilitate different types of research; the place of metaphor in psychoanalytic research and practice; and the future for psychoanalytic research, this text is a fruitful dialogue between different theoretical conceptions and between clinicians and researchers, that will expand our perspectives on the evidence we find in clinical material and will broaden our views on the patient. This book offers a unique and invaluable experience to psychologists and psychoanalysts who are trying to improve their clinical practice and bring research evidence into their psychoanalytic practice. It is an invaluable contribution to psychoanalytic training of candidates, teachers, and students.

The perennial interest in psychoanalysis shows no signs of abating and the longevity of psychoanalytic theory is seen in the varied extensions and elaborations of Freudian thinking in the fields of neuroscience and cognitive theory. Nevertheless, the scientific standing of psychoanalysis has long been questioned and developments in the fields of the philosophy of science and psychology require a fresh assessment of the scientific standing of psychoanalysis. While there are a range of views on the topic of whether psychoanalysis is in fact scientific, any satisfactory approach to understanding mind and behaviour requires an approach that is at once both philosophic and scientific. Accordingly, to even approach the question regarding the scientific nature of psychoanalysis, a foundation comprising a sophisticated conceptual and philosophical framework is required. This volume represents the junction where philosophy, science, and psychoanalysis meet and presents arguments critical and supportive of the scientific standing of psychoanalysis.

Metapsychology and the Foundations of Psychoanalysis redresses faults in Freud’s original conception to develop a coherent theoretical basis for psychodynamic theory. Simon Boag demonstrates that Freud’s much maligned ‘metapsychology’, once revised, can provide a foundation for evaluating and integrating the plethora of psychodynamic perspectives, by developing a philosophically-informed position that addresses the embodied, interconnected relationship between motivation, cognition and affects. The book centres upon the major concepts in psychoanalysis, including the notion of unconscious mental processes, wish-fulfilment, fantasy, and repression. Both philosophical considerations and empirical evidence are brought to bear upon these topics, and used to extract the valuable insights from major approaches. As a result, Boag’s revised general psychology, which stays true to Freud’s intention, addresses psychoanalytic pluralism and shows it is possible to develop a unified account, integrating the insights from attachment theory and object relational approaches and acknowledging the rightful role for neuropsychoanalysis. Metapsychology and the Foundations of Psychoanalysis will be of interest to psychoanalysts, psychiatrists, philosophers of mind and psychologists, as well as anyone concerned with neuropsychoanalysis or psychoanalysis and attachment theory.

With contributions from leading European and American psychoanalysts, this innovative text systematically investigates and analyses the relationship between clinical practice and psychoanalytic theories. It examines clinical practice experience in detail and links it with the knowledge gained from official theory. To make this type of analysis of clinical material possible, the team of authors have devised a grid called The Map. This new instrument details the implicit theories of the analyst at work and can be used in everyday clinical work and supervisions. These analyses highlight the divergences and convergences with theory, but also reveal outlines for new models. Psychoanalysis: From Practice to Theory makes a significant contribution to the debate about the most important problems that psychoanalysis presents. It will be of great value to psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, and students of psychoanalysis. Contributors: Jorge L. Ahumada, Werner Bohleber, Jorge Canestri, Paul Denis, Peter Fonagy, William I. Grossman, Gail S. Reed, David Tuckett, Samuel Zysman Whurr Series in Psychoanalysis Edited by Peter Fonagy and Mary Target

This book clarifies a thorny and knotty problem that has interfered with clear thinking among psychoanalysts for over 70 years. It provides a rigorous examination of the views, theories and contributions of psychoanalysts since their initial appearance, to very mixed acclaim, among the experimental psychoanalysts who were struggling professionally in war-torn London in the early 1940s. Extensive details of the data and their analysis have been included so that the scientific basis of the work’s conclusion may be understood and appreciated. Psychoanalysis is replete with theories, but not so much evidence. This book, however, produces evidence for scrutiny and, as such, provides new evidence-based knowledge about psychoanalytic phenomena in everyday life as it is commonly understood, and which is not derived from “research on the couch”. The conclusions drawn in the book include the new knowledge that mental representations and internal objects do both occur in everyday life and can co-exist.