Unusual focus on healing factional divisions in psychoanalysis * Contains contributions from internationally respected clinicians * Offers a thoughtful and practical guide to working effectively with other analysts in a variety of settings

Unusual focus on healing factional divisions in psychoanalysis * Contains contributions from internationally respected clinicians * Offers a thoughtful and practical guide to working effectively with other analysts in a variety of settings

This book brings together a selection of classic psychoanalytical papers related to ageing, dying and death that have appeared in the renowned International Journal of Psychoanalysis (IJP). Two papers address the analysis of an elderly patient directly and bring the work and the challenges it brings vividly to life. Also explored are such issues as death and the midlife crisis, loneliness and the ageing process, ageing and psychopathology, fear of death, transference and countertransference issues, and the final stage of the dying process. 'The idea behind this monograph is to alert interested psychoanalysts, students and those working from an interdisciplinary standpoint to the possibility of a better understanding of the ageing process as well as a group of potential analysis that seem to exist in the shadow of our professional communications. 'Each stage of life has its own somatic and psychic normality as well as pathology.

The Empty Couch is an introduction to the challenges and obstacles inherent in ageing as a psychoanalyst. It addresses the previously neglected issue of ill health, as well as the significance of ageing for psychoanalysts, exploring the analyst's attitude towards getting older, impermanence and sense of time and space. Covering a wide range of topics Gabriele Junkers brings together expert contributors who discuss the problems of getting physically ill and how to conduct psychoanalysis as an ill therapist. Chapters also address the effects that ageing has on professional stamina, the grief inevitably caused by the losses endured in later life and inquires into the role that institutions (the relevant psychoanalytic institutes or societies) can play in this context. Setting out to encourage discussion on this vital topic, The Empty Couch brings this neglected area into sharp focus. It will be of interest to psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, counsellors, gerontologists and trainees in the psychoanalytic and psychotherapy worlds.

The Empty Couch is an introduction to the challenges and obstacles inherent in ageing as a psychoanalyst. It addresses the previously neglected issue of ill health, as well as the significance of ageing for psychoanalysts, exploring the analyst's attitude towards getting older, impermanence and sense of time and space. Covering a wide range of topics Gabriele Junkers brings together expert contributors who discuss the problems of getting physically ill and how to conduct psychoanalysis as an ill therapist. Chapters also address the effects that ageing has on professional stamina, the grief inevitably caused by the losses endured in later life and inquires into the role that institutions (the relevant psychoanalytic institutes or societies) can play in this context. Setting out to encourage discussion on this vital topic, The Empty Couch brings this neglected area into sharp focus. It will be of interest to psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, counsellors, gerontologists and trainees in the psychoanalytic and psychotherapy worlds.

This book brings together a selection of classic psychoanalytical papers related to aging, dying, and death that have appeared in the renowned International Journal of Psychoanalysis. People are living longer than ever before, leading full and active lives long past retirement, and yet many analysts are averse to working with patients over the age of fifty. Sigmund Freud never wavered from his conviction that the elderly would not benefit from analysis and, despite the huge expansion in analytic technique and practice since the 1940s, the treatment of elderly patients is still not widely practiced. This is reflected in a paucity of papers on the subject--a mere twenty papers on the analysis of elderly patients have appeared in the journal's long history.The chosen papers come from eminent analysts, most of whom have embarked on clinical work with elderly patients. Two papers--one by Hanna Segal, who has also written the Foreword, and the other by Nina E. C. Coltart--address the analysis of an elderly patient directly and bring the work and the challenges it brings vividly to life. Also explored are such issues as death and the midlife crisis, loneliness and the aging process, aging and psychopathology, fear of death, transference and countertransference issues, and the final stage of the dying process. The book ends with Erik Erikson's paper on the generational cycle. This paper is a fitting conclusion from the pioneer whose work contributed to a clearer understanding of the impact of the experiences of the life cycle, from childhood to old age.It is to be hoped that this fascinating collection will stimulate further research and encourage more analysts to work with this neglected and growing section of the population.The Contributors: Norman A Cohen, Nina E. C. Coltart, Erik Homburger Erikson, Tor-Bjorn Hagglund, Elliott Jaques, Gabriele Junkers, Pearl H.M. King, Wolfgang Loch, George H. Pollock, Hanna Segal, Harold W. Wylie, and Mavis L. Wylie"