Winnicott's thinking continues to grow in importance in psychoanalysis today. This book can be described as a clinical primer: by presenting her own personal responses to Winnicott and her initial understanding of his thinking, Margaret Boyle Spelman aims to help others develop their own 'Winnicott' to assist with their clinical thinking. This book makes explicit the parallel in Winnicott's thinking between the situation of the baby and the 'nursing couple', and the patient and the 'analytic couple'. There are two helpful baby observation pieces which are aimed at first giving something of the experience of completing a baby observation and then of the reporting of it. In addition to these, there are chapters that treat Winnicott's thinking and the comparison of the original baby with the one who appears in the course of an adult therapy. Winnicott's thinking is first situated historically. Then each of his three stages of dependence are explored in detail: absolute dependence, relative dependence, and going towards independence. These are looked at from the viewpoint of the patient/baby and the mother/therapist in both developmental and clinical situations.

Erotic transference and countertransference is a core psychoanalytic topic, but very rarely discussed for underage patients * Offers key theory and clinical guidance to managing sexuality in child and adolescent work * Contains contributions from key figures in the international psychoanalytic community

Shrinking the News brings together Coline Covington's wide range of articles from her regular column in the online newspaper, The Week. The articles cover current events from October 2008 until December 2010, concluding with more recent articles from 2013.These articles form a fascinating psychoanalytic insight on crime, politics, the economy, sports and stardom, and the quirky, bizarre events and trends that make up our daily life. The widespread popularity of these articles is a testimony to the public's interest in a psychoanalytic view of the world around us and why people do the things they do.

This volume takes up perspectives from object relations theory and other psychoanalytic approaches to ask questions about the role of television as an object of the internal worlds of its viewers, and also addresses itself to a range of specific television programs, ranging from Play School, through the plays of Jack Rosenthal to recent TV blockbuster series such as In Treatment . In addition, it considers the potential of television to open up new public spaces of therapeutic experience. At the same time, however, the pitfalls of reality programming are explored with reference to the politics of entertainment and the televisual values that heighten the drama of representation rather than emphasizing the emotional experience of reality television participants and viewers. A recurring theme throughout is that television becomes a psychological object for its viewers and producers, maintaining the psychological "status quo" on the one hand and yet simultaneously opening up playful spaces of creative, therapeutic engagement for these groups. This collection of essays arises from a conference organized by the Media and the Inner World research network in collaboration with the Freud Museum."

Psychoanalysis has moved a long way from the techniques of classical psychoanalysis, but these changes have not been understood or disseminated to the wider community. Even university scholars and students of psychology have an archetypal view of the original form of psychoanalysis and do not appreciate that major changes have occurred.This book commences with a detailed outline of the origins of psychoanalysis and an explanation of key terms which are often misinterpreted. The second chapter examines the changes that have occurred in theorizing and practice over the past 120 years and explores key developments. The following chapters contain an interview with a practitioner working in one of each of the four major branches of modern psychoanalysis object relations, attachment informed psychotherapy, intensive short-term dynamic psychotherapy, and relational and intersubjective theory. There follows textual, content, conceptual, and thematic analyses of the transcripts of interviews and commentaries on a therapy excerpt exploring commonalities and differences among these theoretical approaches. The book closes with a consideration of how these differences translate into clinical practice.This book aims to appeal to a wide audience, including clinical practitioners, students of psychology and psychotherapy, the informed lay public, and those thinking about commencing an analysis."

"This paper is based on research into European economics and politics on the basis of ten months travelling in ten countries, as well as on four workshops run in Europe. Two hypotheses will be explored: It is possible to discern psychodynamic evidence that unresolved humiliation trauma is being re-evoked and recycled by attempts to find solutions and cures through the tyranny of austerity measures. But the question will be asked whether these are "chosen trauma" (Volkan, 2010) which may be at the heart of the foundation matrix (Foulkes, 1973) of the European Community. The exploration of political and economic leadership in the crisis in the European Union builds on the notion of society as a large group proliferating crises of identity. From a systemic perspective it is possible to analyse the nation states of Europe protesting with regressive nationalism, refusing collaboration by engaging in economic warfare while at the same time attempting rescue packages. The protest could be seen as defensive denial of their humbling at the hands of the over-ambitious aspects of the European single currency project and the demise of the potency of the nation state. The concluding section reflects on these issues and tries to distinguish the recycling of humiliation trauma from defence against the experience of being humbled."

What happens to the thinking of a thinker who refuses a discipleship? This book attempts to answer this question in relation to D. W. Winnicott and the evolution of his thinking. He eschewed a following, privileging the independence of his thinking and fostering the same in others. However Winnicott s thinking exerts a growing influence in areas including psychoanalysis, psychology, and human development. This book looks at the nature of Winnicott s thought and its influence. It first examines the development of Winnicott s thinking through his own life time (first generation) and then continues this exploration by viewing the thinking in members of the group with a strong likelihood of influence from him; his analysands (second generation) and their analysands (third generation)."

Includes discussion of raising children, and children growing up, in the unique conditions of a kibbutz. Emphasises a contemporary, feminist approach to considering the role of mothers. Includes assessment of various kinds of trauma relating to the absence of material figures, using clinical case studies.

An Existential Approach to Interpersonal Trauma provides a new existential framework for understanding the experiences of interpersonal trauma building on reflections from Marc Boaz's own personal history, clinical insight and research. The book suggests that psychology, psychotherapy and existentialism do not recognise the significance of the existential movements that occur in traumatic confrontations with reality. By considering what people find at the limits and boundaries of human experiencing, Boaz describes the ways in which they can disillusion and re-illusion themselves, and how this becomes incorporated into their modes of existing in the world and in relation to others. In incorporating the experience of trauma into the way people live - all the existential horror, terror and liberation contained within it - Boaz invites them to embrace an expansive ethic of (re)(dis)covery. This ethic recognises the ambiguity and spectrality of interpersonal trauma, and expands the horizons of our human relationships. The book provides an important basis for professionals wanting to work existentially with interpersonal trauma and for people wanting to deepen their understanding of the trauma they have experienced.

Covers the key tenets of Bonaminio's distinguished psychoanalytic work * Has a specific focus on practical, clinical work * Draws on major names such as Winnicott, Bollas, Bion and Ferro

Within the last few decades a dizzying array of scientific disciplines and "explanations" of the motivating forces behind the profound enigmas of human behavior have emerged: sociobiology, cognitive psychology, game theory, experimental psychology, neurobiology, evolutionary psychology, "existential" neurology, social psychology, genetics, and other attempts at interdisciplinary thinking. Each, according to its own reductive approach, strives to separate, isolate, examine in laboratories and through experiments extracted from real-life experience, and thereby "understand" the most complex aspects of being human--including our subjectivity; morality and altruism; our economic survival and our irrational biases that affect it; our innate need for religion and wonder; and the cross-cultural stalwart, humor.But as Alper argues in his exciting and challenging new work, this sort of contemporary balkanization of the human mind actually achieves the opposite of its purpose. Rather than unraveling and illuminating the "Ur" source of a particular behavior or mindset, it merely shrinks the richly threaded tapestry to a single frayed thread dissevered and abstractly disconnected from the everyday experiential realities of human existence.Examining the assertions and fallacies of the theories conceived (or contrived) by some of today's most brilliant scientists and thinkers (including Dan Ariely, John Barrow, Pascal Boyer, Frank Close, Nicholas Humphrey, Richard Dawkins, Stanley Milgram, Oliver Sacks, and Carl Sagan), Alper explores why these varied attempts at joining the world of experience and the world of measurement so regularly fail, how consciousness explained is really a concentrated effort to explain away the subjective phenomena of consciousness.From the psychic rat to the gorilla in the room, from British double-agent Kim Philby to comedian Steve Martin, "The Incredible Shrinking Mind" not only offers a provocative and entertaining critique, but also a profound and practical solution: the psychodynamic approach, which takes seriously the question of meaning and not solely observable behavior, which combines the quantitative and the experimental with the human and multidimensional, which seeks to understand not just how but why. No single equation, no theory, no dazzling fMRI image of the hidden brain can ever accomplish this for us. It must be patiently done, one person at a time.

Just as concerts emerge from the interaction of many instruments, so our understanding of Shakespeare is enriched by different approaches to him. Psychoanalysis assumes that creative writers have the need to both reveal and conceal their own inner conflicts in their works. They leave residues in their works that, if we pay attention, can become building blocks that reveal aspects of the unconscious. This book will help readers find that the questions raised add to the pleasure of reading Shakespeare and that these questions deepen their understanding of his plays. Topics covered include the pivotal position of Hamlet, the poet and his calling, the Oedipus complex, intrapsychic conflict, the battle against paranoia and the homosexual compromise. Using psychoanalytic techniques in analyzing his plays and characters, the author reveals more insights about Shakespeare s hidden motivations and mental health."

The editors find in psychoanalysis a natural and necessary ally for investigations in myth and myth-informed literature and the arts. At the same time the collection re-values myths and myth-based cultural products as vital aids to the discipline and practice of psychoanalysis. The volume spans a vast geo-cultural range and investigates cultural products from the Mahabharata to J. W. Goethe s opus and eighteenth-century Japanese fiction, and from William Blake s visionary poetry to contemporary blockbuster television series. It encompasses mythic topics and figures such as Oedipus, Orpheus, the Scapegoat, and the Hero, while mobilizing Freudian, Jungian, object relations, and Lacanian psychoanalytic approaches. Bringing together an international array of both leading and emerging researchers, "Myth, Literature, and the Unconscious" provides an exceptionally rich overview of the concerns and exciting possibilities of this new interdisciplinary field while simultaneously contributing to scholarship on the literary texts and psychoanalytic concepts it evokes."

Pierre Janet (1859 - 1947) is considered to be one of the founders of psychology, and pioneered research in the disciplines of psychology, philosophy and psychotherapy. Janet's most crucial research, particularly in the subjects of 'dissociation' and 'subconscious' - terms coined by him - is explored in this book, first published in 1952. As Janet did not publish much in English, these notes provide guidance on such areas of study as hysteria and hypnosis, obsessive thinking and the psychology of adaption. Elton Mayo's comprehensive collection is an important guide for any student with an interest in the history of psychology, psychopathology and social study, and Janet's revolutionary work in the field.

"This is a scholarly study in which the author explores a difficult subject matter that has been a tabooed topic in psychoanalysis. She undertakes a serious study of the underlying arguments as to why psychoanalysts have seldom been able to live in harmony with each other. In a very lucid and systematic manner, Dr Utrilla Robles examines how a discipline, in this case psychoanalysis, can be manipulated to its detriment. She explains the disquieting processes that take place, which impede the development of psychoanalysis. These influences insidiously infiltrate the organisational ranks as a kind of arguing which should ostensibly enrich psychoanalysis but instead deprives it of its creativity. For a discipline to prosper, it is necessary to have the freedom to air doubts, ask questions, raise hypotheses, and contrast discoveries by sharing them with others, debating different positions to reflect on the discussions, and to change one s views if necessary.This type of attitude stands in stark contrast to the kind of thinking that excludes and establishes norms to demonstrate how one is right in leaving no room for other ideas and creates research projects, which cannot be refuted. The author s intention in this book is to study and shed light on these phenomena that have been considered a taboo because of the secrecy surrounding them."-- from the Foreword by Dr Gunther Perdigao"

"Shame and Humiliation" explores a sub-set of universal emotions that are usually labeled as "negative" because of the sense of unease that they generate when we experience them and the tenacity with which we try to avoid them.Shame and humiliation are therefore two key emotions that can cause deep suffering, as well as contribute to orient our social life. Some of the noblest and the most villainous acts are fueled by these emotions, from self-sacrifice to bloody revenge. The psychodynamics and the display in the relational world of these emotions are the subject of this book, which offers a friendly conversation between both disciplines through the discussions of the text of each author by the other two. Enlightening clinical cases and vignettes show destinies, transformations, and the manifestations in social and individual situations of both shame and humiliation.

Symbiosis and Ambiguity is the first English edition of the classic study of early object relations by influential Argentinian psychoanalyst Jose Bleger (1922-1972). It is rooted in Kleinian thinking and rich in clinical material. Bleger's thesis is that starting from primitive undifferentiation, prior to the paranoid-schizoid position described by Klein, autism and symbiosis co-exist as narcissistic relations in a syncretic 'agglutinated' nucleus. In symbiosis part of the mind is deposited in an external person or situation; in autism it is deposited in the patient's own mind or body. The nucleus is ambiguous and persists in adults as the psychotic part of the personality. Symbiosis tends to immobilise the analytic process, so the analyst must mobilise, fragment and discriminate the agglutinated nucleus, whose ambiguity tends to 'blunt' persecutory situations. The psychoanalytic setting functions as a silent refuge for the psychotic part of the personality, where it creates a 'phantom world'. At some point, therefore, the setting itself has to be analysed and the analytic relationship de-symbiotised, as Bleger observes in a celebrated chapter on the setting. Jose Bleger's work demonstrates the need to analyse early narcissistic object relations as they arise clinically, especially in the setting. More widely, he regards undifferentiation and participation as operating throughout life: in groups, institutions, and society as a whole.

This is a new translation of the classic 1932 "Dictionary" by Dr. Richard Sterba, for which Freud wrote a Preface praising the "precision and correctness" of Sterba's work and calling it a "fine achievement." The dictionary is not only an important source of information about psychoanalysis in Vienna in the 1930s but is also an insight into its author, as movingly attested by the Epilogue to this edition written by his daughter Katherine J. Michels, son-in-law Robert Michels, and grand-daughter Verena Sterba Michels. This new edition also includes a transcript of an interview with Dr. Streba by Dr. William Langford, Chairman of the Department of Child Psychiatry at the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Theoretical and clinical progress in psychoanalysis continues to develop new concepts and to reconsider old ones, often in contradiction with each other. By confronting and opening these debates, we might find points of convergence but also divergences that cannot be reconciled; the ensuing tension among these should be sustained in a pluralistic dialogue.

The book bridges the conceptual and practical gap between a psychoanalytic focus on the internal world and the dynamics of external reality by examining an array of junctures in which the two perspectives combine to enrich each other. Starting from the inherent bias of the psychoanalytic immersion in working with the internal world, the book deals with a wide array of phenomena in which a binocular perspective is potentially contributing. One such bridge is exemplified by the Group Relations approach, which richly combines psychoanalytic insights with systemic ones. This unique merger is valuable in studying a variety of phenomena both within psychoanalysis and outside it. The work of the analyst in the psychoanalytic setting implies situating oneself on several boundaries internal and external, love and admiration as well as death and destructive impulses and the courage and sacrifice demanded by taking up this role. This binocular perspective has significant implications for the formation and maintenance of identity and particularly for the psychoanalytic identity. A study of Moses and Monotheism provides a deeper look into Freud's anguish about his leadership and its aftermath for the survival of his legacy, and along the way to an understanding of the roots of Jewish identity and the anti-Semitism it arouses, which stem from the explosive act Freud attributes to both Moses and himself. The focus of the book then shifts to other pertinent areas, such as the psychoanalytic contribution to the discontent of the contemporary subject; the inherent difficulty in the relationship of psychoanalysis with the university; the place of the enemy intrapsychic and real and the problems inherent in discourse with him; and the impact of external trauma, such as terror attacks, on the psychoanalytic space and setting. Finally, a number of organizational implications and practices are presented and discussed: the place and meaning of the subject in understanding the organization; the special role of corruption in paranoiagenesis and regression in groups and organizations; a consultative intervention in a severely traumatized mental health center; and finally, some current perspectives on organizational and consultative intervention in psychoanalytic societies.The importance of this book is its uncompromising adherence to both sides of the divide: a psychoanalytic depth of fathoming the inner world of drives and experience, coupled with a systemic view of the external social conditions in which the psychoanalytic enterprise unfolds and the lives of individuals, institutions and organizations transpires."

Michel de M'Uzan has derived several innovative notions from his clinical experience that are relevant not only for the psychoanalyst's status of identity, which is sometimes dramatically shaken by his or her patient's unconscious, but also for the artist who is deeply destabilized by his act of creation, as well as for the caring person who lets him/herself be caught in the nets, as it were, of someone who is dying. Such are the extreme examples of the precarious nature of the boundaries of being in which the author discerns, not necessarily a pathological disposition, but rather an opportunity for the mind to construct itself and achieve authenticity. Through this invigorating recognition of the unconscious with the emergence, at the heart of analysis, of 'paradoxical thoughts', the experience of 'blurred frontiers' characteristic of a vacillating sense of identity, the perception of an 'every man's land' in which the analytic treatment unfolds, and the elaboration of an 'original grammar' specific to the formulation of the intervention/interpretation of the analyst during the session.

Psychiatry and clinical psychology have long been divided about the roles of nature and nurture in the pathways to psychopathology. Some clinicians offer treatment almost entirely based on neuroscience. Some psychologists offer psychotherapies almost entirely based on the impact of environmental stressors. Paris argues for a balanced middle ground between nature and nurture in human development. This book reviews and integrates research showing that the key to understanding the development of mental disorders lies in interactions between genes and environment. It explores why personality is a key determinant of how people respond to stress, functioning as a kind of psychological immune system. This model represents a shift from overly simple and reductionistic constructs, based primarily on biological risks or on psychosocial risks in development. Instead, it offers a complex and multivariate approach that encourages a broader approach to treatment. This book is essential for all mental health clinicians who are interested in understanding the roles of nature and nurture in the development of psychopathology.

When the late Heinz Kohut defined psychoanalysis as the science of empathy and introspection, he sparked a debate that has animated psychoanalytic discourse ever since. What is the relationship of empathy to psychoanalysis? Is it a constituent of analytical technique, an integral aspect of the therapeutic action of analysis, or simply a metaphor for a mode of observation better understood via 'classical' theory and terminology? The dialogue about empathy, which is really a dialogue about the nature of the analytic process, continues in this two-volume set, originally published in 1984. In Volume I, several illuminating attempts to define empathy are followed by Kohut's essay, 'Introspection, Empathy, and the Semicircle of Mental Health.' Kohut's paper, in turn, ushers in a series of original contributions on 'Empathy as a Perspective in Psychoanalysis.' The volume ends with five papers which strive to demarcate an empathic approach to various areas of artistic endeavour, including the appreciation of visual art. Volume II continues the dialogue with a series of developmental studies which explore the role of empathy in early child care at the same time as they chart the emergence of the young child's capacity to empathize. In the concluding section, 'Empathy in Psychoanalytic Work,' contributors and discussants return to the arena of technique. They not only theorize about empathy in relation to analytic understanding and communication, but address issues of nosology, considering how the empathic vantage point may be utilized in the treatment of patients with borderline and schizophrenic pathology. In their critical attention to the many dimensions of empathy - philosophical, developmental, therapeutic, artistic - the contributors collectively bear witness to the fact that Kohut has helped to shape new questions, but not set limits to the search for answers. The product of their efforts is an anatomical exploration of a topic whose relevance for psychoanalysis and psychotherapy is only beginning to be understood.

When the late Heinz Kohut defined psychoanalysis as the science of empathy and introspection, he sparked a debate that has animated psychoanalytic discourse ever since. What is the relationship of empathy to psychoanalysis? Is it a constituent of analytical technique, an integral aspect of the therapeutic action of analysis, or simply a metaphor for a mode of observation better understood via 'classical' theory and terminology? The dialogue about empathy, which is really a dialogue about the nature of the analytic process, continues in this two-volume set, originally published in 1984. In Volume I, several illuminating attempts to define empathy are followed by Kohut's essay, 'Introspection, Empathy, and the Semicircle of Mental Health.' Kohut's paper, in turn, ushers in a series of original contributions on 'Empathy as a Perspective in Psychoanalysis.' The volume ends with five papers which strive to demarcate an empathic approach to various areas of artistic endeavour, including the appreciation of visual art. Volume II continues the dialogue with a series of developmental studies which explore the role of empathy in early child care at the same time as they chart the emergence of the young child's capacity to empathize. In the concluding section, 'Empathy in Psychoanalytic Work,' contributors and discussants return to the arena of technique. They not only theorize about empathy in relation to analytic understanding and communication, but address issues of nosology, considering how the empathic vantage point may be utilized in the treatment of patients with borderline and schizophrenic pathology. In their critical attention to the many dimensions of empathy - philosophical, developmental, therapeutic, artistic - the contributors collectively bear witness to the fact that Kohut has helped to shape new questions, but not set limits to the search for answers. The product of their efforts is an anatomical exploration of a topic whose relevance for psychoanalysis and psychotherapy is only beginning to be understood.

Betrayal underlies all psychic trauma, whether sexual abuse or profound neglect, violence or treachery, extramarital affair or embezzlement. When we betray others, we violate their confidence in us. When others betray us, they pierce the veil of our innocent reliance. Betraying and feeling betrayed are ubiquitous to the scenarios of trauma and yet surprisingly neglected as a topic of specific attention by psychoanalysis.This book fills this gap. Its first part deals with developmental aspects and notes that while the experience of betrayal might be ubiquitous in childhood, its lack of recognition by the parents is what leads to fixation upon it. The second part of the book deals with literature and elucidates the myriad ways in which the theme of betrayal appears in Shakespeare s writings and in Oscar Wilde s poem "The Ballad of Reading Gaol." Its final part pertains to clinical matters and has chapters on the compulsion to betray others and the unconscious need to be betrayed, the betrayal of a sacred trust in the form of childhood sexual abuse, extra-marital affairs, and the betrayal of patients by their analysts in the form of boundary violations."