This book is a journey through almost forty years of practice. Each chapter is independent of the others and develops around a specific theme: psychoanalysis in France, the transference, fathers today, psychic bisexuality, the sick body, human destructivity, and so on. The underlying thread is none the less the question of knowing how the drive operates between the biological body and mental functioning consisting of representations and affects, and, especially, how it gives rise to thinking.If thinking is an "act of the flesh", as the author asserts, how can we refine our understanding of the vicissitudes of the "mysterious leap from the mind to the body"? Furthermore, how does Freudian metapsychology still help us today in our encounters with patients? Contemporary clinical practice is sometimes bewildering: acts, violence, pain, and somatization often replace neurotic conflicts and speech. The clinical stories related here have the aim of showing that a psychoanalysis rooted in the Freudian corpus is still alive and can continue to offer creative responses today.

Desire, Pain and Thought presents a new perspective on primal erotogenic masochism, which Marilia Aisenstein regards as the core of psychoanalytic theory. Aisenstein distinguishes between pathological masochism – the active search for pain – and primal erotogenic masochism, which she believes develops in early childhood. Desire, Pain and Thought explains that the formation of this response in a child is essential to the survival of the individual and the development of resilience. Aisenstein skilfully and convincingly uses her deep understanding of metapsychology and her mastery of Freud’s seminal papers to demonstrate that thought is one of the manifestations of desire which implies a painful renunciation of the object of desire. By moving away from its pathological, negative connotation to a more positive one, the book presents an understanding of masochism as “the guardian of life”. Desire, Pain and Thought will be essential reading for psychoanalysts in practice and in training.

Updated with three entirely new chapters. Represents psychosomatic work internationally. Leading contributors.

Desire, Pain and Thought presents a new perspective on primal erotogenic masochism, which Marilia Aisenstein regards as the core of psychoanalytic theory. Aisenstein distinguishes between pathological masochism – the active search for pain – and primal erotogenic masochism, which she believes develops in early childhood. Desire, Pain and Thought explains that the formation of this response in a child is essential to the survival of the individual and the development of resilience. Aisenstein skilfully and convincingly uses her deep understanding of metapsychology and her mastery of Freud’s seminal papers to demonstrate that thought is one of the manifestations of desire which implies a painful renunciation of the object of desire. By moving away from its pathological, negative connotation to a more positive one, the book presents an understanding of masochism as “the guardian of life”. Desire, Pain and Thought will be essential reading for psychoanalysts in practice and in training.

Updated with three entirely new chapters. Represents psychosomatic work internationally. Leading contributors.

This book is a journey through almost forty years of practice. Each chapter is independent of the others and develops around a specific theme: psychoanalysis in France, the transference, fathers today, psychic bisexuality, the sick body, human destructivity, and so on. The underlying thread is none the less the question of knowing how the drive operates between the biological body and mental functioning consisting of representations and affects, and, especially, how it gives rise to thinking.If thinking is an "act of the flesh", as the author asserts, how can we refine our understanding of the vicissitudes of the "mysterious leap from the mind to the body"? Furthermore, how does Freudian metapsychology still help us today in our encounters with patients? Contemporary clinical practice is sometimes bewildering: acts, violence, pain, and somatization often replace neurotic conflicts and speech. The clinical stories related here have the aim of showing that a psychoanalysis rooted in the Freudian corpus is still alive and can continue to offer creative responses today.