Psycho Analytic Explorations

Whereas most anthropological research is grounded in social, cultural and biological analysis of the human condition, this volume opens up a different approach: its concerns are the psychic depths of human cultural life-worlds as explored through psycho-analytic practice and/or the psychoanalytically framed ethnographic project. In fact, some contributors here argue that the anthropological interpretation of human existence is not sustainable without psychoanalysis; others take a less extreme radical stance but still maintain that the unconscious matrix of the human psyche and of the intersubjective (social) reality of any given cultural life-world is a vital domain of anthropological and sociological inquiry and understanding.

"This second series of essays is an enriching companion to its ground-breaking predecessor. In a truly interdisciplinary endeavor, the scope of the "explorations" is extended by a unique international group of scholars working in both music and psychoanalysis. Unlike the earlier series, this volume consists entirely of original contributions." "This volume continues the analytic study of individual composers in articles on Bach and Mozart, Robert Schumann, Satie and Wagner. Wagner receives particular attention in studies of universal fantasies which relate to the music, the psychological function of the Leitmotif, and Freud's familiarity with Wagner, hitherto unexplored. Other composers whose works are considered are Schubert and Bartok." "A core issue in each of the two fields resides in the study of affect: What is its nature; the means and modes of representation? How is affect communicated in both the clinical situation and in the performance of music? In a central section of the book, "On Affect and Music," writers in both areas address these questions." "An opening section concerns itself with the problem of method in applied psychoanalysis with specific reference to music, the only such treatment in the literature. Also included in this portion of the book is a preliminary report of an ongoing study of contemporary composers based upon analytic interviews." "The volume concludes with a pair of historical essays, one of which considers myths of Freud's relationship to music. The second is a study of the musicologist in Freud's early circle (and the father of "Little Hans"), Max Graf." "The present volume then is the second in what promises to become a unique series - an intellectual venue for an authentically interdisciplinary study of psychoanalysis and music."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Psychoanalysts increasingly find themselves working with patients and states that are not amenable to verbal and dialogic engagement. Such patients are challenging for a psychoanalytic approach that assumes that the patient relates in the verbal realm and is capable of reflective function. Both the classical stance of neutrality and abstinence and a contemporary relational approach that works with mutuality and intersubjectivity, can often ask too much of patients. The Unobtrusive Relational Analyst introduces a new psychoanalytic register for working with such patients and states, involving a present and engaged analyst who is unobtrusive to the unfolding of the patient’s inner world and the flow of mutual enactments. For the unobtrusive relational analyst, the world and idiom of the patient becomes the defining signature of the clinical interaction and process. Rather than seeking to bring patients into greater dialogic relatedness, the analyst companions the patient in the flow of enactive engagement and into the damaged and constrained landscapes of their inner worlds. Being known and companioned in these areas of deep pain, shame and fragmentation is the foundation on which psychoanalytic transformation and healing rests. In a series of illuminating chapters that include vivid examples drawn from his work with individuals and with groups, Robert Grossmark illustrates the work of the unobtrusive relational analyst. He reconfigures the role of action and enactment in psychoanalysis and group-analysis, and expands the understanding of the analyst’s subjectivity to embrace receptivity, surrender and companioning. Offering fresh concepts regarding therapeutic action and psychoanalytic engagement, The Unobtrusive Relational Analyst will be of great interest to all psychoanalysts and psychoanalytic psychotherapists.

Emotion is an integral aspect of musical experience; music has the power to take us on an emotional and intellectual journey, transforming the listener along the way. The aim of this book is to examine the nature of this journey, using a variety of perspectives. No one discipline can do justice to music's complexity if one is to have a sense of the whole musical experience, even if one has to break up the whole experience into various elements for the purposes of clarification. The issues raised have some relationship to psychoanalytic understanding and listening, as after all psychoanalysis is a listening discipline; its bedrock is listening to the patient's communications. While of course there are significant differences between understanding of, and listening to, a musical performance and a patient in a consulting room, the book explores common ground. Evidence from neuroscience indicates that music acts on a number of different brain sites, and that the brain is likely to be hard-wired for musical perception and appreciation, and this offers some kind of neurological substrate for musical experiences, or a parallel mode of explanation for music's multiple effects on individuals and groups. After various excursions into early mother/baby experiences, evolutionary speculations, and neuroscientific findings, the book's main emphasis is that it is the intensity of the artistic vision which is responsible for music's power. That intense vision invites the viewer or the listener into the orbit of the work, engaging us to respond to the particular vision in an essentially intersubjective relationship between the work and the observer or listener. This is the area of what we might call the human soul. Music can be described as having soul when it hits the emotional core of the listener. And, of course, there is 'soul music', whose basic rhythms reach deep into the body to create a powerful feeling of aliveness. One can truly say that music of all the arts is most able to give shape to the elusive human subject or soul.

This volume contains ninety-two works by this renowned writer, theoretician, and clinician. Includes critiques of Melanie Klein's ideas and insights into the works of other leading psychoanalysts, and thoughts on such concepts as play in the analytic situation, the fate of the transitional object, regression in psychoanalysis, and the use of silence in psychotherapy.

Advances in science and the humanities have demonstrated the complexity of psychological, social and neurological factors influencing identity. A contemporary discourse is needed to anchor the concepts required in speaking about identity in present day understanding. In Identity and the New Psychoanalytic Explorations of Self-organization, Mardi Horowitz offers new ways of speaking about parts of self, explaining what causes a range of experiences from solidity in grounding the self to disturbances in a sense of identity. The book covers many aspects of both the formation and the deconstruction of identity. Horowitz examines themes including: -The sense of identity -Social learning -Biological learning -Identity and self-esteem - Levels of personality functioning and growth The book clarifies basic questions, defines useful terms, examines typical identity disturbances and presents a biopsychosocial theory which indicates how schemas operate in conscious and unconscious mental processing. The answers to the basic questions lead to improvements in psychotherapy practices as well as teaching and research methods. Identity and the New Psychoanalytic Explorations of Self-organization will prove fascinating reading for those working in the fields of psychoanalysis, psychology, psychiatry, neuroscience and the social disciplines.

In this book, international psychoanalytic writers address the question ‘What do Women Want Today?’ from a variety of lenses, bringing into focus the creative, resilient forces shown by women in their multiple social and psychological tasks. The book reviews classic psychoanalytic theories about the feminine within a new cultural context. It challenges hegemonic gender prejudices and discusses new conceptions that do not pathologize ‘different’ lifestyles and family configurations. With chapters by leading, international thinkers in the field, this book explores how to think about new feminine scenarios, gender identities, gender dynamics, motherhood, and desire, in light of modern psychoanalytic theories. In presenting how these changing contemporary notions of the feminine challenge classic psychoanalytic theory and practice, this book will compel both training and experienced analysts to think about new psychoanalytic theories and engage with their own prejudices regarding changing notions of the feminine. Offering ideas relevant to psychoanalysis, sociology, gender studies, psychology, and activism, this book will be of great interest to professionals, teachers and students in addition to any with an interest in psychoanalytic theory and women’s studies.