Contributors: Jacqueline Amati Mehler, Simona Argentieri, Colette Chiland, Domenico Di Ceglie, Eulalia Torras de Bea, Estela V. Welldon"From time to time we listen to some curious views on psychoanalysis as an old fashioned and useless discipline, more important from an historical perspective than as a tool for understanding human life in its normal and pathological dimensions, as well as an effective therapeutic instrument. This book on transsexualism and transvestism shows exactly how psychoanalysis can reflect, discuss, dialogue and formulate useful insights on one of the most challenging situations that nowadays confront all members of the mental health community. Giovanna Ambrosio assembled this group of distinguished analytic thinkers, all of them with deep experience in the field of human sexuality, and asked them to contribute both to the attempt of understanding these relatively new forms of expression of human sexuality and what kind of interrelations psychoanalysis can offer. My own experience in the supervision of analytic psychotherapy with these patients shows me how simultaneously difficult and fascinating is the journey of each analyst or therapist who attempts to treat those patients. All the main areas are highlighted in this most useful and thoughtful book which I strongly recommend and which shows once again the extraordinary work carried out by the IPA s Committee on Women and Psychoanalysis."--Claudio Laks Eizirik, President, International Psychoanalytical Association"

In this book, the authors compare different psychoanalytic thinking and models - all of a rigorously Freudian stamp - on three concepts of great theoretical and clinical importance: language, symbolization, and psychosis.

Incest is a universal taboo that is found throughout the history and mythology of the majority of societies. A neglected subject in more recent psychoanalytic work, this book was inspired by the COWAP European Conference of 2003. On Incest explores the theories and reasons behind incest, using themes such as gender identity and perversi

This book compares different psychoanalytic thinking and models from a rigorously Freudian perspective on three concepts of great theoretical and clinical importance: Language, Symbolization, and Psychoses. These concepts are significantly interwoven with each other both in personal development as well as in the atypical and individual forms of pathology. The authors have endeavored to reply to one of the foremost queries that has occupied Jacqueline Amati Mehler's thinking: whether and how the acquisitions of modern psychoanalysis have brought about changes in our criteria of analysability; whether our increased knowledge has lead to a greater therapeutic capacity, as she believes; and whether, as a consequence, we must endorse the so-called flexibility of the setting and the classical methods, as she does not believe.

Incest is a universal taboo found throughout history and within myths from all societies. It has been a neglected subject by psychoanalysis in recent years and this volume aims, successfully, to promote confrontation between the past and present and to provide a clinical and theoretical reflection on the subject. Here incest is distinct from sexual abuse outside of the family nucleus. The book, inspired by the COWAP European Conference of 2003, looks at themes such as gender identity, perversions and incest. Containing papers from leading experts in the field, it includes the papers delivered at the conference plus two papers from Mariam Alizade and Brendan MacCarthy, who both present an account of the discussions as they developed during the conference. The collection deals with a number of issues that surround incest, including Freud's work and how his outlook changed throughout the years, the post-Freudian theories, treatment of both offender and victim through traditional one-on-one and group therapy, the importance of the sex of the analyst, the permeations of the abuser/abused, and the "why" of incest. As well as addressing theory, the papers include moving and at times disturbing clinical vignettes to provide an insight into clinical practice.This is a book for trainee and professional psychoanalysts, social workers, counsellors, community police officers, and any other professionals whose work brings them into contact with this distressing subject. Contributors: Mariam Alizade, Giovanna Ambrosio, Simona Argentieri Bondi, Monique Cournut, Brendan MacCarthy, Juan Eduardo Tesone and Estela Welldon

This book is an outcome of the European Conference on the theme of transsexualism held in Catania, Italy in 2006. It shows how psychoanalysis can reflect, discuss, dialogue and formulate useful insights on one of the most challenging situations that confront the mental health community.