Psychoanalysis category: 1976 books

Wrestling with the Angel is a meditation on contemporary political, legal, and social theory from a psychoanalytic perspective. It argues for the enabling function of formal and symbolic constraints in sustaining desire as a source of creativity, innovation, and social change. The book begins...

This book argues that neuroscience, evolutionary psychology, and behavioral economics often function as a political ideology masquerading as a new science. In looking at works by Antonio Damasio, Steven Pinker, Richard Thaler, Cas Sunstein, and John Tooby, Robert Samuels undertakes a close reading...

It is generally accepted that among Freud’s many contributions to the understanding of the normal and abnormal aspects of mental functioning, The Interpretation of Dreams stands alone and above all others. In this work published in 1900 Freud laid down the foundations of psychoanalytic theory as...

In this volume, Traumatic Narcissism: Relational Systems of Subjugation, Daniel Shaw presents a way of understanding the traumatic impact of narcissism as it is engendered developmentally, and as it is enacted relationally. Focusing on the dynamics of narcissism in interpersonal relations, Shaw describes...

"The relational and the developmental point of view have never been brought together in an adequate way. This up-to-date scholarly, yet practical, integration opens a new vista within relational psychoanalysis and pioneers a fresh approach in the psychoanalytic treatment of children and adolescents. It is a work of great and lasting value to the field." –Peter Fonagy

It is sometimes assumed that fantasizing stands in contrast to activism. This book, however, argues that fantasy plays a central role in social movements. Drawing on psychoanalysis and psychosocial theories, Fantasy and Social Movements examines the relationships between fantasy, reality, action, the unconscious and the collective.

This book focuses on the current, chaotic world stage, which is characterized by new forms of global violence and new types of actors, such as terrorist networks. Based on interdisciplinary analysis combining political science and psychoanalysis, history and political philosophy, it delves down to...

Conversion disorder—a psychiatric term that names the enigmatic transformation of psychic energy into bodily manifestations—offers a way to rethink the present. With so many people suffering from unexplained bodily symptoms; with so many seeking recourse to pharmacological treatments or bodily...

In his latest book Christopher Bollas uses detailed studies of real clinical practice to illuminate a theory of psychoanalysis which privileges the human impulse to question. From earliest childhood to the end of our lives, we are driven by this impulse in its varying forms, and The Infinite Question...

Milner's final text, Bothered by Alligators, came about when, in her nineties, she unexpectedly came across a diary she had kept during the early years of her son's life, recording his conversations and play between the ages of two and nine. With it was a storybook written and illustrated by him when...

'Counterdreaming' is Donald Meltzer's term for the psychoanalytic reverie that arises from the countertransfe rence during the session, in response to the analysand's own dreams and phantasies. He writes: 'It is difficult to explain the technique of counterdreaming... I compare it with waiting in...

Phenomenology, Uncertainty and Care in the Therapeutic Encounter is the latest in a series of books where Mark Leffert explores the therapeutic encounter as both process and situation; looking for evidence of therapeutic effectiveness rather than accepting existing psychoanalytic concepts of theory...

At the threshold of the 21st Century many people are faced with a spiritual dilemma, where neither secularism nor religion seem adequate. The Psychology of Mature Spirituality addresses this dilemma. In each of the book's three sections - integrity, wisdom, and transcendence - distinguished contributors...

There are hundreds of different systems of psychotherapy today, ranging from the traditional "talking cure" to symbolic "re-birthing" and primal scream. The landscape is littered with serious social science, pop psychology, esoteric doctrine, and pure charlatanism. One of the obvious...