Recent Developments In Psychoanalysis

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.

Although attachment theory was originally rooted in psychoanalysis, the two areas have since developed quite independently. This incisive book explores ways in which attachment theory and psychoanalysis have each contributed to understanding key aspects of psychological functioning--including infantile and adult sexuality, aggression, psychopathology, and psychotherapeutic change--and what the two fields can learn from each other. Morris Eagle critically evaluates how psychoanalytic thinking can aid in expanding core attachment concepts, such as the internal working model, and how knowledge about attachment can inform clinical practice and enrich psychoanalytic theory building. Three chapters on attachment theory and research are written in collaboration with Everett Waters.

Is psychoanalysis in decline? Has its understanding of the human condition been marginalized? Have its clinical methods been eclipsed by more short-term, problem-oriented approaches? Is psychoanalysis unable (or unwilling) to address key contemporary issues and concerns? With contributors internationally recognized for their scholarship, Progress in Psychoanalysis: Envisioning the Future of the Profession offers both an analysis of how the culture of psychoanalysis has contributed to the profession’s current dilemmas and a description of the progressive trends taking form within the contemporary scene. Through a broad and rigorous examination of the psychoanalytic landscape, this book highlights the profession’s very real progress and describes a vision for its increased relevance. It shows how psychoanalysis can offer unparalleled value to the public. Economic, political, and cultural factors have contributed to the marginalization of psychoanalysis over the past 30 years. But the profession’s internal rigidity, divisiveness, and strong adherence to tradition have left it unable to adapt to change and to innovate in the ways needed to remain relevant. The contributors to this book are prominent practitioners, theoreticians, researchers, and educators who offer cogent analysis of the culture of psychoanalysis and show how the profession’s foundation can be strengthened by building on the three pillars of openness, integration, and accountability. This book is designed to help readers develop a clearer vision of a vital, engaged, contemporary psychoanalysis. The varied contributions to Progress in Psychoanalysis exemplify how the profession can change to better promote and build on the very real progress that is occurring in theory, research, training, and the many applications of psychoanalysis. They offer a roadmap for how the profession can begin to reclaim its leadership in wide-ranging efforts to explore the dynamics of mental life. Readers will come away with more confidence in psychoanalysis as an innovative enterprise and more excitement about how they can contribute to its growth.

Peter Fonagy Winner of the 2010 Sigourney Award! Joseph Sandler has been an important influence in psychoanalysis throughout the world during the latter part of the twentieth century, contributing to changing views on both psychoanalytic theory and technique. He has also been a bridging force in psychoanalysis, helping to close the gap between American ego psychologists, and British Kleinian and object relations theorists. Psychoanalysis on the Move provides a comprehensive and accessible overview of Sandler's contribution to the development of psychoanalysis. The contributors trace the development of the main themes and achievements of Sandler's work, in particular his focus on combining psychoanalytic theory and clinical practice. Timely and important, Psychoanalysis on the Move should make interesting reading for psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, and all those who wish to know more about one of the most creative figures in psychoanalysis of the past few decades.