D.W. Winnicott and Jacques Lacan are arguably two of the most important psychoanalytic theoreticians since Freud, and, somewhat ironically, seemingly two of the most incompatible. Lewis Kirshner and his colleagues attempt to demonstrate how the intellectual contributions of these two figures - such as Winnicott's self and Lacan's subject - complement productively despite their apparent contrast. Throughout the book, their major concepts are clarified and differentiated, but always with an eye toward points of intersection and a more effective psychoanalytic practice. Furthermore, these contri.

Written with the American psychological community in mind, The Subject of Lacan provides an accessible introduction to the psychoanalytic theories of Jacques Lacan. The contributors address issues and theories that define the field of psychology for its practitioners, researchers, and theorists. Focusing on a wide range of topics, including cognitive science, family therapy, psychoanalytic technique, psychotherapy versus psychopharmacology, gender and sexuality, psychology of religion, psycholinguistics, and cultural diversity, this book makes an important contribution to the understanding of the radically innovative character and complexity of Lacanian theory. Contributors include Willy Apollon, Suzanne Barnard, Mario L. Beira, Donna Bentolila, Danielle Bergeron, Mark Bracher, Daniel L. Buccino, Lucie Cantin, David S. Caudill, Bruce Fink, Stephen R. Friedlander, Patricia Gherovici, Kareen Ror Malone, David Metzger, Paola Mieli, John Muller, Ian Parker, Andre Patsalides, Ellie Ragland, Robert Samuels, Lucia Villela, Valerie Walkerdine, and Slavoj Zoizuek.

Ever since Freud put religion on the couch in "The Future of an Illusion," there has been an uneasy peace, with occasional skirmishes, between these two great disciplines of subjectivity. As prime meaning givers, God and the unconscious have vied for supremacy in our thinking about ourselves, especially our thinking about our human nature, our moral stature, and our destiny. Freud, in his bold manner, found projection, fear, and denial to be the wellspring of religion's domination over man. In analogous fashion, those giving primacy to the soul over the unconscious have long dismissed psychoanalysis as mechanistic, reductionistic, and hence inadequate to the examination of spirituality. Soul on the Couch is premised on the belief that discourse about the soul and discourse from the couch can inform, and not simply ignore, one another. It brings together scholars and psychoanalysts at the forefront of an interdisciplinary dialogue that is vitally important to the growth of both disciplines. Their essays are not only models of reflective inquiry; they also illuminate the syntheses that emerge when analysts and scholars of religion bridge the gap that has long separated them and speak to one another.

There is currently a burgeoning interest in the relationship between the Western psychotherapeutic and Buddhist meditative traditions among therapists, researchers, and spiritual seekers. Psychotherapy and Buddhism initiates a conversation between these two modern methods of achieving greater self-understanding and peace of mind. Dr. Jeffrey B. Rubin explores how they might be combined to better serve patients in therapy and adherents to a spiritual way of life. He examines the strengths and limitations of each tradition through three contexts: the nature of self, conception of ideal health, and process of achieving optimal health. The volume features the first two cases of Buddhists in psychoanalytic treatment.

Using social theory and cultural analysis, Roger A. Salerno explores the relationship of abandonment to the construction of contemporary capitalistic cultures. Beginning with an array of narratives on the emergence of capitalism in the West and its undermining of traditional social institutions and structures, he provides an overview of both the definition of and reactions to abandonment, analyzing its historical, social, and psychological dimensions. The author contends that abandonment anxiety and feelings of estrangement not only have deep psychological roots, but also important social causes and cultural manifestations such as a quest for security or a hunger for commodities. Salerno surveys important contributions of writers, artists, philosophers, and social scientists and how their work expresses this sense of modern abandonment. He also examines how and why this phenomenon has become a central motif in renderings of community, the environment, and the process of globalization and presents a richer understanding of our modern social condition.

The social and political relevance of Julia Kristeva's work is perhaps the central question in Kristeva studies, and the essays in this collection provide a sustained interrogation of this complicated problematic from a variety of perspectives and across the various contexts and moments of Kristeva's forty-year writing career. Presenting Kristeva's thought as the sustained interrogation of a political problematic, the contributors argue that her use of psychoanalysis and aesthetics offers significant insight into social and political issues that would otherwise remain concealed. The collection addresses the entirety of Kristeva's oeuvre, from her earliest work on poetic language to her most recent work on female genius, and it includes two previously untranslated essays by Kristeva, as well as original contributions from scholars working in several countries and a variety of disciplines.