Independent Psychoanalysis Today is a book that shows how contemporary Independent psychoanalysts think and work. There are three themes to the book: Independent thinking including the theory of technique; exploration of clinical concepts and demonstrations of ways of working by some of the most prominent Independent clinicians practicing today; finally, the evolution and enduring impact of Independent ideas and the influence of past Independents on present ways of working.

Arguably the most informative and readable account of the development of British independent psychoanalysis, Eric Rayner’s The Independent Mind in British Psychoanalysis offers a coherent account of the core concepts that influence the clinical practice. Covering the main themes and theorists with rigour and clarity, it has rightly found a central place on the reading lists of psychoanalytic and psychotherapy trainings, both in the UK and worldwide. Republished with a new foreword from Maurice Whelan, the book begins with a philosophical and historical background, describing the establishment of the ‘Middle Group’ (later called the Independents) following the controversial discussions between the supporters of Melanie Klein and Anna Freud. The succeeding chapters detail the contributions by Independent psychoanalysts including Fairbairn, Balint, Rickman, Winnicott, Bowlby, and Khan, to themes such as emotions, object relations, sexuality, aggression, perversion, regression, symbolisation, creativity, art, and dreams. Rayner relays the ethos of the Independent psychoanalytic ‘mind’ as tolerant, creative and respectful, with an understanding of the developmental roots of pathology in early relationships and with balanced thinking about the impact of the real environment as well as the internal world on a person’s character. Providing a thorough exploration of the development of thinking within the tradition of the British Independent school of psychoanalysis, this book will be of great interest to psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, counsellors, social workers, students, and even non-clinicians interested in the history of psychoanalysis.

Monica Lanyado and Anne Horne are co-editors of the successful Handbook of Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy. Most of the literature on child and adolescent therapy in the UK derives from the Tavistock Institute. This book is an attempt to provide the 'Independent' perspective.

In our current professional climate, with calls for 'evidenced-based treatment', and in light of the prestige accorded to this emblem, we can ask: for what purpose do we seek evidence? For our students? For the public at large? For an inner sense of feeling supported by science? Most disciplines are concerned with cumulative knowledge, aimed toward self-affirmation and self-definition, that is, establishing a sense of legitimacy. The three parts of this volume are directed toward the goal of affirming a public and private sense of the legitimacy of psychoanalysis, thereby shaping professional identity. In each contribution we adhere to the precepts of 'scientific inquiry', with a commitment to affirming or disconfirming clinical propositions, utilizing consensually agreed upon methods of observation, and arriving at inferences that are persuasive and have the potential to move the field forward. Beyond this, each part of this book describes distinct methodologies that generate evidence pertaining to public health policy, the persuasiveness and integrity of our psychoanalytic concepts, and phenomena encountered in daily clinical practice.

In The Psychoanalytic Ear and the Sociological Eye: Toward an American Independent Tradition, Nancy J. Chodorow brings together her two professional identities, psychoanalyst and sociologist, as she also brings together and moves beyond two traditions within American psychoanalysis, naming for the first time an American independent tradition. The book's chapters move inward, toward fine-tuned discussions of the theory and epistemology of the American independent tradition, which Chodorow locates originally in the writings of Erik Erikson and Hans Loewald, and outward toward what Chodorow sees as a missing but necessary connection between psychoanalysis, the social sciences, and the social world. Chodorow suggests that Hans Loewald and Erik Erikson, self-defined ego psychologists, each brings in the intersubjective, attending to the fine-tuned interactions of mother and child, analyst and patient, and individual and social surround. She calls them intersubjective ego psychologists—for Chodorow, the basic theory and clinical epistemology of the American independent tradition. Chodorow describes intrinsic contradictions in psychoanalytic theory and practice that these authors and later American independents address, and she points to similarities between the American and British independent traditions. The American independent tradition, especially through the writings of Erikson, points the analyst and the scholar to individuality and society. Moving back in time, Chodorow suggests that from his earliest writings to his last works, Freud was interested in society and culture, both as these are lived by individuals and as psychoanalysis can help us to understand the fundamental processes that create them. Chodorow advocates for a return to these sociocultural interests for psychoanalysts. At the same time, she rues the lack of attention within the social sciences to the serious study of individuals and individuality and advocates for a field of individuology in the university.

Frances Tustin Today explores some of the ways and means by which Tustin’s work has enabled psychoanalytic clinicians to enter into the elemental domain of sensation: what Bion called the ‘proto-mental’ area of the psyche-soma. Through detailed clinical contributions of several of her exponents worldwide, this book demonstrates how her ideas -- rooted in decades of work with children on the autistic spectrum -- have influenced and are being expanded, extended and applied to the treatment of ordinary patients from early childhood through adulthood. The contributors to this volume represent a selection of the contemporary thinking that organically grew out of Tustin’s discoveries, and show that Tustin's model has added new dimensions to the fields of infant observation, family therapy and neuro-psychology. Each chapter is augmented by demonstrable clinical experience. Frances Tustin Today is a valuable resource for psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, educators and parents who are interested in learning more about this uniquely independent clinical observer's findings and their impact upon the treatment of autistic states in children, adolescents and adults by contemporary workers in the field of mental health. Judith L. Mitrani, and Theodore Mitrani, are Fellows of The International Psycho-Analytical Association, Training and Supervising Psychoanalysts at The Psychoanalytic Center of California in Los Angeles. They are founding members of the Board of Trustees of The Frances Tustin Memorial Trust, and authors, editors, translators and teachers in the private practice of psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic therapy with Adults and Children in Los Angeles, California.

Living Psychoanalysis: From Theory to Experience represents a decade of work from one of today's leading psychoanalysts. Michael Parsons brings to life clinical psychoanalysis and its theoretical foundations, offering new developments in analytic theory and vivid examples of work in the consulting room. The book also explores connections between psychoanalysis, art and literature, showing how psychoanalytic insights can enrich our lives far beyond the clinical situation. Living Psychoanalysis comprises four main sections: Life and Death – asks what it means to be fully and creatively alive, and introduces the concept of avant-coup Sexuality, Narcissism and the Oedipus complex – develops fresh ways of understanding these key concepts How analysts listen – explores links between psychoanalytic listening and the way artists look at the world, and introduces the concept of the internal analytic setting The Independent tradition in British psychoanalysis – considers the theoretical foundations of Independent clinical technique, and discusses from various perspectives the role of training in developing the identity of analysts and analytic therapists With fresh theoretical concepts and a focus on specific aspects of clinical practice, Living Psychoanalysis: From Theory to Experience will be a valuable resource for analysts, therapists and professionals who wish to extend their vision of psychoanalysis. It will also be of great interest to general readers concerned to deepen their understanding of the links between culture and the mind.