Since Freud's initial papers on transference and countertransference, these vast and inexhaustible subjects have occupied psychoanalysts. Transference and countertransference, the essence of the patient/analyst relationship, are concepts so central to psychoanalysis that, to our minds, they transcend theoretical orientation and, thus, can be seen as the unifying focus of psychoanalysis. However differently theoretical traditions conceptualize the transference, or disagree as to when and how to interpret it in our everyday analytic work, we all embrace the phenomena as vital to psychic change.The ten contributors to this book describe work involving the transference and countertransference, with links frequently made between such work and psychic change. These are accounts of the analyst at work, detailed clinical accounts of what can be considered to be the bread and salt of psychoanalysis, set within a theoretical framework. The theoretical viewpoints put forth are varied, encompassing Kleinian, Independent, and Contemporary Freudian theoretical orientations, and, as such, represent the varied orientations of the members of the British Psychoanalytic Association.The psychoanalytic relationship is examined, in its positive and negative aspects. This includes fine-grained observations and interpretations as well as broader views of the emotional relationship with the analyst, with many clinical illustrations. The psychoanalytic practitioner, as well as the specialist reader, will find the studies of transference work in this book helpful in understanding the factors leading toward psychic change and the working-through of unconscious emotional dilemmas.Contributors: Jean Arundale, Debbie Bandler Bellman, Ruth Berkowitz, Sara Collins, Irene Freeden, Michael Halton, Jan Harvie-Clark, Viqui Rosenberg, Philip Roys and Jessica Sacret Hering.

Includes renowned contributors. Topical area. Includes historical and forensic perspectives.

Includes renowned contributors. Topical area. Includes historical and forensic perspectives.

Since Freud's initial papers on transference and countertransference, these vast and inexhaustible subjects have occupied psychoanalysts. Transference and countertransference, the essence of the patient/analyst relationship, are concepts so central to psychoanalysis that, to our minds, they transcend theoretical orientation and, thus, can be seen a

Following the attacks of September 11th 2001, one of the resounding questions asked was "What would make anyone do such a thing?" The psychological mentality of the suicidal terrorist left a gaping hole in people's understanding. This essential volume represents a much-needed effort to collate and examine some of the material already at our disp

The contributions in this book exemplify ways in which different analysts think about and treat the issue of interpretation, illustrating the distinctiveness with which an analyst expresses his or her own personality, creativity, and understanding within the medium of psychoanalysis. Entering the realm of the philosophical concept of the particularised universal in which the general concept finds its expression not in abstraction but only in its particular manifestation, each analyst construes the theories and body of knowledge of psychoanalysis in his or her own way. The editors believe that the analytic process can embrace not only different theoretical views, but also differences in how we listen to and communicate with our patients, the expressions of which create an analytic climate with its own particular diction, vocabulary, and distinctive voice. The individual voice is implicit in the literature, capable of being demonstrated, and an important factor in the analytic process.

Practitioners of psychoanalysis find three central themes to be recurrent and ubiquitous in every analysis; firstly, issues around identity, the struggle to know the self, to understand the self and to be the self in an authentic way. Intricately entangled with self-identity is the problem of narcissism, essentially viewed as a defensive retreat to a mental state characterized by an unconscious belief in the special value of the self and the diminution of the Other. The motive for seeking psychoanalytic treatment is often to improve the quality of relationships with the Other, which is clearly jeopardized by narcissistic states; the person undergoing psychoanalysis might hope to re-discover a resilient self and a sense of personal identity, and to overcome narcissism sufficiently to be able to form relationships. However, there are a multitude of inherent anxieties involved in close and intimate relationships. As Freud pointed out, even in our most intimate relationships there is an element of hostility.

The contributions in this book exemplify ways in which different analysts think about and treat the issue of interpretation, illustrating the distinctiveness with which an analyst expresses his or her own personality, creativity, and understanding within the medium of psychoanalysis. Entering the realm of the philosophical concept of the particularised universal in which the general concept finds its expression not in abstraction but only in its particular manifestation, each analyst construes the theories and body of knowledge of psychoanalysis in his or her own way. The editors believe that the analytic process can embrace not only different theoretical views, but also differences in how we listen to and communicate with our patients, the expressions of which create an analytic climate with its own particular diction, vocabulary, and distinctive voice. The individual voice is implicit in the literature, capable of being demonstrated, and an important factor in the analytic process.

Following the attacks of September 11th 2001, one of the resounding questions asked was "What would make anyone do such a thing?" The psychological mentality of the suicidal terrorist left a gaping hole in people's understanding. This essential volume represents a much-needed effort to collate and examine some of the material already at our disposal as an encouragement to serious thought on this question and other related questions.'If terrorism is not new, what is it about the recent attacks that gives us a sense that something has changed? Is it the scale of the destruction, or the anxiety that we are facing some altogether new uncertainty? Are we in some sense facing a new enemy? ...In reflecting on these and other related questions we may be facing a similar watershed of understanding to that faced by Freud at the end of the Great War...In the absence of progress in our thinking today, political leaders and public opinion will likely turn to previous political and religious ideas, investing in them with a fundamentalist certainty that spells disaster.

Practitioners of psychoanalysis find three central themes to be recurrent and ubiquitous in every analysis; firstly, issues around identity, the struggle to know the self, to understand the self and to be the self in an authentic way. Intricately entangled with self-identity is the problem of narcissism, essentially viewed as a defensive retreat to a mental state characterized by an unconscious belief in the special value of the self and the diminution of the Other. The motive for seeking psychoanalytic treatment is often to improve the quality of relationships with the Other, which is clearly jeopardized by narcissistic states; the person undergoing psychoanalysis might hope to re-discover a resilient self and a sense of personal identity, and to overcome narcissism sufficiently to be able to form relationships. However, there are a multitude of inherent anxieties involved in close and intimate relationships. As Freud pointed out, even in our most intimate relationships there is an element of hostility.