Psychoanalytic Theories

This book collates and clarifies psychoanalytic theories on affect, and how they relate to the clinical process. The author outlines and analyses the most important theories on affect, and examines empirical work presented over the past 100 years, exposing the rigidity of some existing notions.

Traces the evolution of psychoanalytic theory, highlighting the developmental components that are at the core of various psychoanalytic theories and providing an extensive review of psychoanalytic theories including those of Sigmund Freud, Heinz Hartmann, Eric Erikson, René Spitz, Edith Jacobson, Hans Loewald, Anna Freud, Margaret Mahler, Joseph Sandler, André Green, Melanie Klein, Herbert Rosenfeld, Heinz Kohut, Otto Kernberg, Harry Stack Sullivan, Stephen Mitchell, John Bowlby, Mardi Horowitz, Daniel Stern, and Anthony Ryle.

Object Relations in Psychoanalytic Theory provides a masterful overview of the central issue concerning psychoanalysts today: finding a way to deal in theoretical terms with the importance of the patient's relationships with other people. Just as disturbed and distorted relationships lie at the core of the patient's distress, so too does the relation between analyst and patient play a key role in the analytic process. All psychoanalytic theories recognize the clinical centrality of “object relations,” but much else about the concept is in dispute. In their ground-breaking exercise in comparative psychoanalysis, the authors offer a new way to understand the dramatic and confusing proliferation of approaches to object relations. The result is major clarification of the history of psychoanalysis and a reliable guide to the fundamental issues that unite and divide the field. Greenberg and Mitchell, both psychoanalysts in private practice in New York, locate much of the variation in the concept of object relations between two deeply divergent models of psychoanalysis: Freud's model, in which relations with others are determined by the individual's need to satisfy primary instinctual drives, and an alternative model, in which relationships are taken as primary. The authors then diagnose the history of disagreement about object relations as a product of competition between these disparate paradigms. Within this framework, Sullivan's interpersonal psychiatry and the British tradition of object relations theory, led by Klein, Fairbairn, Winnicott, and Guntrip, are shown to be united by their rejection of significant aspects of Freud's drive theory. In contrast, the American ego psychology of Hartmann, Jacobson, and Kernberg appears as an effort to enlarge the classical drive theory to accommodate information derived from the study of object relations. Object Relations in Psychoanalytic Theory offers a conceptual map of the most difficult terrain in psychoanalysis and a history of its most complex disputes. In exploring the counterpoint between different psychoanalytic schools and traditions, it provides a synthetic perspective that is a major contribution to the advance of psychoanalytic thought.

Essays discuss the relations among gender, self, and society, the significance of women's mothering for gender personality and gender relations, and how the psychodynamics of gender create and sustain individualism

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 aims to integrate different psychoanalytic schools and relevant research findings into an integrated psychoanalytic theory of the mind. A main claim explored here, is that a revised and expanded ego psychology constitutes the strongest foundation not only for a unified psychoanalytic theory, but also for the integration of relevant research findings from other disciplines. Sophisticated yet accessible, the book includes a description of the basic tenets of ego psychology and necessary correctives and revisions. It also discusses research and theory on interpersonal understanding, capacity for inhibition, defense, delay of gratification, autonomous ego aims and motives, affect regulation, the nature of psychopathology; and the implications of a revised and expanded ego psychology for approaches to treatment. The book will appeal to readers who are interested in psychoanalysis, the nature of the mind, the nature of psychopathology, and the implications of theoretical formulations and research findings for approaches to treatment. As such, it will also be of great value on graduate and training courses for psychoanalysis.

As the foundational theory of modern psychological practice, psychoanalysis and its attendant assumptions predominated well through most of the twentieth century. The influence of psychoanalytic theories of development was profound and still resonates in the thinking and practice of today’s mental health professionals. Guide to Psychoanalytic Developmental Theories provides a succinct and reliable overview of what these theories are and where they came from. Ably combining theory, history, and biography it summarizes the theories of Freud and his successors against the broader evolution of analytic developmental theory itself, giving readers a deeper understanding of this history, and of their own theoretical stance and choices of interventions. Along the way, the authors discuss criteria for evaluating developmental theories, trace persistent methodological concerns, and shed intriguing light on what was considered normative child and adolescent behavior in earlier eras. Each major paradigm is represented by its most prominent figures such as Freud’s drive theory, Erikson’s life cycle theory, Bowlby’s attachment theory, and Fonagy’s neuropsychological attachment theory. For each, the Guide provides: biographical information a conceptual framework contributions to theory a clinical illustration or salient excerpt from their work. The Guide to Psychoanalytic Developmental Theories offers a foundational perspective for the graduate student in clinical or school psychology, counseling, or social work. Seasoned psychiatrists, analysts, and other clinical practitioners also may find it valuable to revisit these formative moments in the history of the field.

APA offers the Theories of Psychotherapy Series as a focused resource for understanding the major theoretical models practiced by psychotherapists today. Each book presents a concentrated review of the history, key concepts, and application of a particular theoretical approach to the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of clients. The series emphasizes solid theory and evidence-based practice, illustrated with rich case examples featuring diverse clients. Practitioners and students will look to these books as jewels of information and inspiration. Book jacket.