In this important book, experts in the field survey current psychoanalytic theory, discussing its principles, technical aspects, clinical phenomena, and applications. The book is both an introduction to and a statement of mainstream American psychoanalysis today and will be a standard reference for psychoanalytic trainees, authors, and teachers. Under the direction of the editors and a distinguished panel of advisors, the contributors present a broad overview of more than forty key clinical and theoretical concepts. They define each concept, trace its historical development within psychoanalysis, describe its present status, discuss criticisms and controversies about it, and point out emerging trends. A selected reference list is supplied for each concept. Together, the articles provide a systematic examination of the theoretical infrastructure of psychoanalysis. The book has been designed as a companion volume to Psychoanalytic Terms and Concepts, a glossary edited by Drs. Moore and Fine under the auspices of the American Psychoanalytic Association.

Object Relations in Psychoanalytic Theory provides a masterful overview of the central issue concerning psychoanalysts today: finding a way to deal in theoretical terms with the importance of the patient's relationships with other people. Just as disturbed and distorted relationships lie at the core of the patient's distress, so too does the relation between analyst and patient play a key role in the analytic process. All psychoanalytic theories recognize the clinical centrality of “object relations,” but much else about the concept is in dispute. In their ground-breaking exercise in comparative psychoanalysis, the authors offer a new way to understand the dramatic and confusing proliferation of approaches to object relations. The result is major clarification of the history of psychoanalysis and a reliable guide to the fundamental issues that unite and divide the field. Greenberg and Mitchell, both psychoanalysts in private practice in New York, locate much of the variation in the concept of object relations between two deeply divergent models of psychoanalysis: Freud's model, in which relations with others are determined by the individual's need to satisfy primary instinctual drives, and an alternative model, in which relationships are taken as primary. The authors then diagnose the history of disagreement about object relations as a product of competition between these disparate paradigms. Within this framework, Sullivan's interpersonal psychiatry and the British tradition of object relations theory, led by Klein, Fairbairn, Winnicott, and Guntrip, are shown to be united by their rejection of significant aspects of Freud's drive theory. In contrast, the American ego psychology of Hartmann, Jacobson, and Kernberg appears as an effort to enlarge the classical drive theory to accommodate information derived from the study of object relations. Object Relations in Psychoanalytic Theory offers a conceptual map of the most difficult terrain in psychoanalysis and a history of its most complex disputes. In exploring the counterpoint between different psychoanalytic schools and traditions, it provides a synthetic perspective that is a major contribution to the advance of psychoanalytic thought.

Psychoanalytic theory remains hugely influential to our understanding of the mind and human behaviour. It provides a rich source of ideas for therapeutic practice, while offering dramatic insights for the study of culture and society. This comprehensive review of the field: - Explores the birth of psychoanalysis, taking the reader step by step through Freud's original ideas and how they developed and evolved - Provides a clear account of fundamental psychoanalytic concepts - Discusses the different schools of psychoanalysis that have emerged since Freud - Illustrates the wider applications of psychoanalytic ideas across film, literature and politics Written by a highly respected authority on psychoanalysis, this book is essential reading for trainees in counselling and psychotherapy, as well as for students across the arts, humanities and social sciences.

APA offers the Theories of Psychotherapy Series as a focused resource for understanding the major theoretical models practiced by psychotherapists today. Each book presents a concentrated review of the history, key concepts, and application of a particular theoretical approach to the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of clients. The series emphasizes solid theory and evidence-based practice, illustrated with rich case examples featuring diverse clients. Practitioners and students will look to these books as jewels of information and inspiration. Book jacket.

This study is a philosophical critique of the foundations of Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis. As such, it also takes cognizance of his claim that psychoanalysis has the credentials of a natural science. It shows that the reasoning on which Freud rested the major hypotheses of his edifice was fundamentally flawed, even if the probity of the clinical observations he adduced were not in question. Moreover, far from deserving to be taken at face value, clinical data from the psychoanalytic treatment setting are themselves epistemically quite suspect.

Although psychoanalytic concepts underlie most forms of psychotherapy practiced today, the basic Freudian theory of mind the metapsychology does not mesh with current scientific views in psychology and related fields. As a result, despite its many strengths, psychoanalysis has been relegated to the periphery by clinicians and researchers alike. Filling a significant void, this book from cognitive scientist and psychoanalytic researcher Wilma Bucci proposes a new model of psychological organization that integrates psychoanalytic theory with the investigation of mental processes. Solidly rooted in current cognitive science, multiple code theory recognizes the focus on meanings and motives that is intrinsic to psychoanalytic clinical work. The theory points to parallel functions underlying free association and dreams, as well as conceptual development in children and creative work in sciences and the arts, and provides a strong foundation for empirical research on the psychoanalytic treatment process.