This book digs into the complex archaeology of empathy illuminating controversies, epistemic problems and unanswered questions encapsulated within its cross-disciplinary history. The authors ask how a neutral innate capacity to directly understand the actions and feelings of others becomes charged with emotion and moral values associated with altruism or caregiving. They explore how the discovery of the mirror neuron system and its interpretation as the neurobiological basis of empathy has stimulated such an enormous body of research and how in a number of these studies, the moral values and social attitudes underlying empathy in human perception and action are conceptualized as universal traits. It is argued that in the humanities the historical, cultural and scientific genealogies of empathy and its forerunners, such as Einfuhlung, have been shown to depend on historical preconditions, cultural procedures, and symbolic systems of production. The multiple semantics of empathy and related concepts are discussed in the context of their cultural and historical foundations, raising questions about these cross-disciplinary constellations. This volume will be of interest to scholars of psychology, art history, cultural research, history of science, literary studies, neuroscience, philosophy and psychoanalysis.

Revisits the birth of psychoanalysis from the perspective of trauma. Considers the roles of both Freud and Ferenczi. Revisits some of Freud's most famous cases including the Wolf Man and his involvement with Emma Eckstein.

The Routledge International Handbook of Psychoanalysis, Subjectivity, and Technology uniquely provides a comprehensive overview of human subjectivity in the technological age and how psychoanalysis can help us better understand human life. Presented in five parts, David M. Goodman and Matthew Clemente collaborate with an international community of scholars and practitioners to consider how psychoanalytic formulations can be brought to bear on the impact technology has had on the facets of human subjectivity. Chapters examine how technology is reshaping our understanding of what it means to be a human subject, through embodiment, intimacy, porn, political motivation, mortality, communication, interpersonal exchange, thought, attention, responsibility, vulnerability, and more. Filled with thought-provoking and nuanced chapters, the contributors approach technology from a diverse range of entry points but all engage through the lens of psychoanalytic theory, practice, and thought. This book is essential for academics and students of psychoanalysis, philosophy, ethics, media, liberal arts, social work, and bioethics. With the inclusion of timely chapters on the coronavirus pandemic and teletherapy, psychoanalysts in practice and training as well as other mental health practitioners will also find this book an invaluable resource.

Understanding and Healing Emotional Trauma is an interdisciplinary book which explores our current understanding of the forces involved in both the creation and healing of emotional trauma. Through engaging conversations with pioneering clinicians and researchers, Daniela F. Sieff offers accessible yet substantial answers to questions such as: What is emotional trauma? What are the causes? What are its consequences? What does it mean to heal emotional trauma? and How can healing be achieved?

These questions are addressed through three interrelated perspectives: psychotherapy, neurobiology and evolution. " Psychotherapeutic perspectives" take us inside the world of the unconscious mind and body to illuminate how emotional trauma distorts our relationships with ourselves and with other people (Donald Kalsched, Bruce Lloyd, Tina Stromsted, Marion Woodman). "Neurobiological perspectives" explore how trauma impacts the systems that mediate our emotional lives and well-being (Ellert Nijenhuis, Allan Schore, Daniel Siegel). And e"volutionary perspectives" contextualise emotional trauma in terms of the legacy we have inherited from our distant ancestors (James Chisholm, Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, Randolph Nesse).

Transforming lives affected by emotional trauma is possible, but it can be a difficult process. The insights shared in these lively and informative" "conversations can support and facilitate that process.This book will therefore be a valuable resource for psychotherapists, psychologists, counsellors and other mental health professionals in practice and training, and also for members of the general public who are endeavouring to find ways through their own emotional trauma. In addition, because emotional trauma often has its roots in childhood, this book will also be of interest and value to parents, teachers and anyone concerned with the care of children."

1. This book is the first to frame Tolstoy's life and work through a queer, psychoanalytical and historico-political lens 2. It uniquely blends literary theory, queer/gender studies, sexology and ethics 3. Using illustrations throughout, this book also draws on the work of Freud, Cervantes, Rousseau and Kant.

Arturo Ezquerro and Maria Canete present a captivating journey through human development, group lives and group attachment from infancy all the way into old age. Co-constructed with meticulous anthropological, psychosocial, cultural and clinical research, as well as true, stirring stories and insights which contain a rare blend of common sense and inspiration, this book offers an exciting new outlook on attachment and group analysis. Group Analysis Throughout the Life Cycle first assesses psychosocial, peer group and other group developmental studies, within a broad evolutionary and cultural context, looking into changes and constancies, continuities and discontinuities, as well as overlaps that occur throughout each developmental stage. It then presents a thorough review of psychoanalytic, group-analytic and wider group literature. The book concludes with a consideration of qualitative group-analytic research which examines clinical group phenomena that can be present in all age groups, as well as distinct phase-specific characteristics and developmental tasks, as they find expression in the therapeutic process. Presented with frankness, self-reflective thinking and compassion, Group Analysis Throughout the Life Cycle will be essential reading for psychotherapists, psychoanalysts, group analysts, psychiatrists and other professionals in practice and in training. It will also appeal to healthcare professionals interested in human development and attachment theory.

Life Studies in Psychoanalysis consists of four psychoanalytic studies each representing a patient's course of treatment over several years. These studies demonstrate how love, in an array of forms, is refracted through the process of psychoanalysis, which unfolds over time and reveals the complexities of human desire. The cases presented here cover topics including repressed homosexuality, a taboo desire for a sibling, obsession with a fantasy, an Oedipus complex, and transferences that become an initial obstacle to treatment. Dr. Ahron Friedberg offers professionals techniques for encouraging patients to remain in treatment when they become resistant, demoralized, or feel like they have hit a wall. As the studies proceed, each renders the non-linear progress of treatment, as layer upon layer of a patient's issues are brought to light and the patient slowly, often reluctantly, comes to terms with these issues. Life Studies in Psychoanalysis will be of great interest to psychoanalysts in practice and in training, psychoanalytic psychotherapists and readers looking for insight into the analytic process.

The unconscious dynamics that surface in groups when authority is exercised are of paramount importance in Group Relations Conferences; this volume addresses these considerations through research findings and speculation on the future of Group Relations both within conferences and outside of them. This is the sixth instalment in a series of books based on Tavistock Group Relations Conferences and contains a collection of papers presented at the sixth Belgirate conference. Combining chapters on theory and practice, this volume delivers a meditation on the relationships between the physical spaces we inhabit or co-create, the psychic, inner or spiritual space and the liminal space in-between. Group Relations provides a window of understanding into why inequity and intergroup hostilities pervade the modern world alongside a method that illuminates how people consciously and unconsciously contribute to these tensions, whether personally, in groups or in organisations. This will be an invaluable resource for practitioners, academics, and scholars of Group Relations, as well as managers and organisational members wanting to learn more about how Group Relations methods can contribute to their organisational success.

• Links the cultural agency of imaginative discourse to its capacity to address, challenge, and evoke a deep sociality characteristic of humans; • Brings together two prominent currents informing contemporary literary theory—affective and neurocognitive-evolutionary literary studies and work calling for renewed attentiveness to ethical and aesthetic qualities in literary works; • Develops and illustrates his arguments through analyses of a wide range of literary works

An up-to-date, rigorous, and lucid treatment of the theory, methods, and applications of regression analysis, and thus ideally suited for those interested in the theory as well as those whose interests lie primarily with applications. It is further enhanced through real-life examples drawn from many disciplines, showing the difficulties typically encountered in the practice of regression analysis. Consequently, this book provides a sound foundation in the theory of this important subject.

Offers an unprecedented comparative study of the major schools of psychoanalysis by exploring their differences and similarities. Includes schools from all over the world. Each chapter examines assumptions about the approach and explores implications for practice.

Psychoanalysis and Toileting is an accessible book that delineates and interprets the psychological meanings of defecating and urinating in everyday life. Paul Marcus' work gives the clinician an in-depth view of an activity that every patient and practitioner engage in and shows how not dealing with toileting in its wide range of social and practical contexts leaves out a huge aspect of the patient's everyday experience. Drawing from psychoanalytic theory and practice, the author discusses such subjects as constipation, diarrhea and irritable bowel syndrome, adult female incontinence, toilet cursing, public toilet graffiti and toilet humor. The book also considers the personal meaning of urinating and defecating as seen in men suffering from an enlarged prostate, in 'excremental assault' in the Nazi concentration camps, and in dreaming. Marcus considers not only what is typically negative about these experiences, but what can be seen as positive in terms of growth and development for the ordinary person. The book is illustrated throughout with clinical vignettes and observations taken from the author's private practice. Psychoanalysis and Toileting will be a key text for psychoanalysts and psychoanalytic psychotherapists in practice and in training. It will also be relevant to other mental health practitioners.

Builds on the work of Bion and Ogden, both of whom remain very fashionable in psychoanalysis * Contains new theory and practical guidance * Dreams remain a core topic in psychoanalysis

This fascinating book examines the place and practice of Relational Gestalt Therapy (RGT) within an Indian cultural context, and how it can be applied in a group setting. The book begins by introducing the foundational concepts of Gestalt Therapy, namely Phenomenology, Field theory and Dialogic Existentialism. Through stories and vignettes, it then invites the reader to enter the circle of the group, a profound way of learning akin to the old Indian folk tradition of village communities sharing stories and bond as a social group. Drawing from these narratives, the book not only elaborates on the theoretical concepts of GT, but also offers culturally sensitive guidance for Indian practitioners wishing to conduct group therapy. Written by a practitioner with over 20 years' experience, this will prove essential reading not only for practitioners working in India, but also anyone with an interest in how Gestalt Therapy can be applied in group settings in different cultural contexts.

Minding the Body: The Body in Psychoanalysis and Beyond outlines the value of a psychoanalytic approach to understanding the body and its vicissitudes and for addressing these in the context of psychoanalytic psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. The chapters cover a broad but esoteric range of subjects that are not often discussed within psychoanalysis such as the function of breast augmentation surgery, the psychic origins of hair, the use made of the analyst's toilet, transsexuality and the connection between dermatological conditions and necrophilic fantasies. The book also reaches 'beyond the couch' to consider the nature of reality television makeover show. The book is based on the Alessandra Lemma's extensive clinical experience as a psychoanalyst and psychologist working in a range of public and private health care settings with patients for whom the body is the primary presenting problem or who have made unconscious use of the body to communicate their psychic pain. Minding the Body draws on detailed clinical examples that vividly illustrate how the author approaches these clinical presentations in the consulting room and, as such, provides insights to the practicing clinician that will support their attempts at formulating patients' difficulties psychoanalytically and for how to helps such patients. It will be essential reading for psychoanalysts, psychologists, psychiatrists, mental health workers, academics and literary readers interested in the body, sexuality and gender.

American social critics in the 1970s, convinced that their nation was in decline, turned to psychoanalysis for answers and seized on narcissism as the sickness of the age. Books indicting Americans as greedy, shallow, and self-indulgent appeared, none more influential than Christopher Lasch's famous 1978 jeremiad "The Culture of Narcissism." This line of critique reached a crescendo the following year in Jimmy Carter's "malaise speech" and has endured to this day.

But as Elizabeth Lunbeck reveals, the American critics missed altogether the breakthrough in psychoanalytic thinking that was championing narcissism's positive aspects. Psychoanalysts had clashed over narcissism from the moment Freud introduced it in 1914, and they had long been split on its defining aspects: How much self-love, self-esteem, and self-indulgence was normal and desirable? While Freud's orthodox followers sided with asceticism, analytic dissenters argued for gratification. Fifty years later, the Viennese emigre Heinz Kohut led a psychoanalytic revolution centered on a "normal narcissism" that he claimed was the wellspring of human ambition, creativity, and empathy. But critics saw only pathology in narcissism. The result was the loss of a vital way to understand ourselves, our needs, and our desires.

Narcissism's rich and complex history is also the history of the shifting fortunes and powerful influence of psychoanalysis in American thought and culture. Telling this story, The Americanization of Narcissism" ultimately opens a new view on the central questions faced by the self struggling amid the tumultuous crosscurrents of modernity."

Overlap between psychoanalysis and the arts is a perennially hot topic * Uses literature to inform psychoanalytic theory and practice * Fresh take on understanding key psychoanalytic topic of unconscious processes

1. A unique look into how Freud's own adolescence informed his own work on adolescent psychoanalysis, amongst other theories; 2. Includes excerpts of letters written by Freud himself to offer a personal insight into his thought process; 3. Written in an accessible and informative way, this book will invite readers from the general public as much as it will appeal to analysts;

This book contributes to the retrieval of the alienated through the author's own acts of interpretation of ideas introduced by Melanie Klein, Donald Winnicott, Ronald Fairbairn, and Wilfred Bion. It is offered as an act of interpretation.

Times of Mourning: Bereavement, Clinical Challenge, and Subjectivity works around the homonymous property of the word duelo in Spanish, which means both grief and duel. Adriana Bauab argues that the mourning process is a challenge and an opportunity for the subject to recompose their symbolic universe, recovering the function of lack that can ignite desire. Citing multiple clinical examples, Bauab proposes new tools for the treatment of grief.

1. The new book for eminent analyst, Juliet Mitchell, looking at the sibling relationship 2. This important new book further develops her vital theory of The Law of the Mother, re-iterating her argument with more evidence for its structural importance in the psyche 3. In this book, Mitchell deftly extends psychoanalytical theory to include the social self and looks at how a new sibling in the family can be the source of extensive trauma in a young person

Reviving the legacy of early female psychoanalysts is a hot topic * Clara Thompson's work has been greatly undervalued until now * Explores the history and Thompson's vision for the future of Interpersonal psychoanalysis

In The Clinical Comprehension of Meaning, Carlos Tabbia addresses fundamental questions of psychoanalytic theory and technique, unfolding them for the reader in an elegant, passionate, and poetic style. This book illustrates three pillars of a psychoanalytic clinic: the structure of the personality, the development of thought, and the ability to foster close relationships with clients. These three pillars show the conditions for the creation of meanings and the difficulties that can be manifested in fanatical functioning, psychosomatic disorders and dreaming, as well as isolation and boredom in adolescents. Using clinical vignettes throughout, Tabbia also analyses the issues surrounding the establishment of an intimate relationship, as well as the issues psychoanalysts must face within themselves. Throughout the volume, Tabbia looks to the work of Bion, Meltzer, Freud, and Klein as well as philosophers such as Plato, Wittgenstein, Russell, Max Scheler, Levinas and others such as poets and painters. Including a prologue by Alberto Hahn and translated into English for the first time, this seminal text will be of interest to psychoanalysts and psychotherapists, as well students and candidates undertaking psychoanalytic training.

In "Lacan: The Unconscious Reinvented," Colette Soler takes us beyond the formulas and catchphrases often used to characterize Lacan's work, and enters into a fresh, original and profound dialogue with his thought. Starting from the well-known "the unconscious is structured like language," she asks what led Lacan to speak of a "real unconscious." Soler discusses the key changes in Lacan's work over the years and the implicit questions that motivated these changes. Themes discussed include the unconscious, the symptom, affects, the direction of treatment and the political dimensions of analytic practice. This book will appeal to all those with an interest in Lacan's thought, as well as providing an introduction to the development of his ideas.

Living Psychoanalysis: From Theory to Experience represents a decade of work from one of today's leading psychoanalysts. Michael Parsons brings to life clinical psychoanalysis and its theoretical foundations, offering new developments in analytic theory and vivid examples of work in the consulting room. The book also explores connections between psychoanalysis, art and literature, showing how psychoanalytic insights can enrich our lives far beyond the clinical situation.

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Living Psychoanalysis "comprises four main sections:

Life and Death - asks what it means to be fully and creatively alive, and introduces the concept of "avant-coup"

Sexuality, Narcissism and the Oedipus complex - develops fresh ways of understanding these key concepts

How analysts listen - explores links between psychoanalytic listening and the way artists look at the world, and introduces the concept of the internal analytic setting

The Independent tradition in British psychoanalysis - considers the theoretical foundations of Independent clinical technique, and discusses from various perspectives the role of training in developing the identity of analysts and analytic therapists

With fresh theoretical concepts and a focus on specific aspects of clinical practice, "Living Psychoanalysis: From Theory to Experience" will be a valuable resource for analysts, therapists and professionals who wish to extend their vision of psychoanalysis. It will also be of great interest to general readers concerned to deepen their understanding of the links between culture and the mind.