As reflected in the 12 chapters of this book, the achievements of psychoanalysis during the first hundred years have been extraordinary. Each chapter is written by psychoanalysts strongly committed to a particular version of psychoanalysis theory and practice. As Robert Langs points out in his Foreword, the varying schools of psychoanalysis have. to a considerable extent, become relatively insular.' This book solves this problem by acting as a dynamic showcase for the enormous diversity, of explorations and thinking that characterize psychoanalysis today, a field to which some of the most brilliant and innovative thinkers of the late twentieth century have been drawn.

This book is a unique and superb gateway to current psychoanalytic thinking. Thirty of America's foremost psychoanalysts -- leaders in defining the current pluralistic state of the profession -- have each presented what they consider to be their most significant contribution to the field. No mere anthology, these are the key writings that underlie current discussions of psychoanalytic theory and technique. The chapters cover contemporary ideas of intersubjectivity, object relations theory, self psychology, relational psychoanalysis, hermeneutics, clinical technique, changing concepts of unconscious, empirical research, infant observation, gender and sexuality, and more. While the differences in point of view are profound, there is also a striking coherence on some core issues. Each of the contributions features an introduction by the volume editor and a note by the author explaining the rationale for its selection. The brilliant introduction by Peter Fonagy provides an overview and places each author in the context of contemporary psychoanalysis. A list of the authors may convey the astonishing breadth of this volume:Brenner, Bromberg, Busch, Chodorow, Cooper, Emde, Friedman, Gabbard, Goldberg, Greenberg, Grossman, Hoffman, Jacobs, Kantrowitz, Kernberg, Levenson, Luborsky, Michels, Ogden, Ornstein, Person, Pine, Renik, Schafer, Schwaber, Shapiro, Smith, Stern, Stolorow, Wallerstein This is a "best of the best" volume -- cutting-edge writing, highly accessible and studded with vivid clinical illustrations. Anyone wishing to acquire a comprehensive, authoritative, readily accessible -- even entertaining -- guide to American psychoanalytic thinking will find their goal fulfilled in this monumental collection.

Contemporary Psychoanalytic Field Theory articulates the theory, heuristic principles, and clinical techniques of psychoanalytic field theory. S. Montana Katz describes the historical, philosophical and clinical contexts for the development of field theory in South America, North America and Europe. Field theory is a family of related bi-personal psychoanalytic perspectives falling into three principal models, which developed relatively independently. One of the principal models is based upon the work of Madeleine and Willy Baranger. The second, constructed by Katz, draws upon what is held in common by the implicit field theories in the United States of the interpersonal, intersubjective, relational and motivational systems’ psychoanalytic perspectives. The third is based upon the work of Antonino Ferro. For each, Katz elucidates its conception of mind, unconscious processes, the specific field concept employed, therapeutic goals, and clinical techniques. Similarities and differences of the models are illustrated. In the book, a fabricated analytic process is offered in which an analysand, Zoe, is engaged in three analyses. Each analyst works with the techniques of one of the three field theories. Katz conveys the diverging thought processes and technical choices of each analyst and the potentially different therapeutic outcomes of the application of each model. In the final chapters, Katz moves beyond the specific field theories to articulate a concept of a general field which underlies the three field concepts. She explores how to use this generalized field to find a form of common ground amongst the field theories, conjecturing that this generalized concept has application beyond field theory to a greater range of psychoanalytic perspectives. Contemporary Psychoanalytic Field Theory provides a clear and comprehensive guide that will appeal to psychoanalysts, psychoanalytic psychotherapists, mental health professionals and clinicians, as well as philosophers, psychologists, sociologists and anthropologists.

This book provides a clear introduction to the main contemporary psychoanalytic theoretical perspectives. Psychoanalysis is often thought of as an obscure and outdated method, and yet those familiar with it recognize the profound value of psychoanalytic theory and technique. Part of the obscurity may come from psychoanalytic language itself, which is often impenetrable. The complexity of the subject matter has lent itself to a confusion of tongues and yet, at base, psychoanalysis remains an earnest attempt to make sense of and ease human distress. Introduction to Contemporary Psychoanalysis seeks to make this rich wealth of information more accessible to clinicians and trainees. Psychoanalytic clinicians from various schools here describe the key ideas that underlie their particular perspective, helping the reader to see how they apply those ideas in their clinical work. Inviting the contributors to speak about their actual practice, rather than merely providing an overview, this book helps the reader to see common threads that run across perspectives, but also to recognize ways in which the different lenses from each of the perspectives inform interventions Through brief vignettes, the reader is offered an experience-near sense of what it might be like to apply those ideas in their own work. The contributors also note the limits or weaknesses of their particular theory, inviting the reader to consider the broader spectrum of these diverse offerings so that the benefits of each might be more visible. Introduction to Contemporary Psychoanalysis offers readers the richness and diversity of psychoanalytic theory and technique, so that the advantages of each particular lens might be visible and accessible as a further tool in their clinical work. This novel, comparative work will be an essential text for any psychoanalyst or psychoanalytically inclined therapist in training, as well as clinicians and those who teach psychoanalytic theory and technique.

The landscape of psychoanalysis has changed, at times dramatically, in the hundred or so years since Freud first began to think and write about it. Freudian theory and concepts have risen, fallen, evolved, mutated, and otherwise reworked themselves in the hands and minds of analysts the world over, leaving us with a theoretically pluralistic (yet threateningly multifarious) diffusion of psychoanalytic viewpoints. To help make sense of it all, Morris Eagle sets out to critically reevaluate fundamental psychoanalytic concepts of theory and practice in a topical manner. Beginning at the beginning, he reintroduces Freud's ideas in chapters on the mind, object relations, psychopathology, and treatment; he then approaches the same topics in terms of more contemporary psychoanalytic schools. In each chapter, however, there is an underlying emphasis on identification and integration of converging themes, which is reemphasized in the final chapter. Relevant empirical research findings are used throughout, thus basic concepts - such as repression - are reexamined in the light of more contemporary developments.

The need for a concise, comprehensive guide to the main principles and practice of psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy has become pressing as the psychoanalytic movement has expanded and diversified. An introductory text suitable for a wide range of courses, this lively, widely referenced account presents the core features of contemporary psychoanalytic theory and practice in an easily assimilated, but thought-provoking manner. Illustrated throughout with clinical examples, it provides an up-to-date source of reference for a wider range of mental health professionals as well as those training in psychoanalysis, psychotherapy or counselling.

The classic, in-depth history of psychoanalysis, presenting over a hundred years of thought and theories Sigmund Freud's concepts have become a part of our psychological vocabulary: unconscious thoughts and feelings, conflict, the meaning of dreams, the sensuality of childhood. But psychoanalytic thinking has undergone an enormous expansion and transformation since Freud's death in 1939. With Freud and Beyond, Stephen A. Mitchell and Margaret J. Black make the full scope of twentieth century psychoanalytic thinking-from Harry Stack Sullivan to Jacques Lacan; D.W. Winnicott to Melanie Klein-available for the first time. Richly illustrated with case examples, this lively, jargon-free introduction makes modern psychoanalytic thought accessible at last.

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.

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.

'Personality Theories' by Albert Ellis - the founding father of Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy - provides a comprehensive review of all major theories of personality including theories of personality pathology. Importantly, it critically reviews each of these theories in light of the competing theories as well as recent research.