In 1984 the Psychoanalytic Center of California (PCC) was established as a direct outcome of the work of Albert Mason, Wilfred Bion, and the visiting analysts who influenced the thinking and practice of receptive Los Angeles analysts of the day. Contemporary Object Relations in Los Angeles reflects the work of current PCC analysts who have carried forward the Kleinian tradition in a variety of ways. They form a tribute to Dr Albert Mason and his influence on the development of post-Kleinian and Bionian thinking in the United States. The contributions reflect a wide range of interests and ways of exploring current psychoanalytic thought. They include a comparison of the concepts of Winnicott, Klein, and Bion; an account of the application of infant observation; a description of the gradual dismantling of a patient's manic personality organization; detailed accounts of individual analyses: the journey from psychotherapy to a full analytic treatment; the musical aspects of communication between analyst and patient; and the history, meaning, and current perspective of interpretation in analysis. This lively collection will enhance the practice of clinicians and inspire trainees on their own clinical journey.

In 1968, Wilfred Bion and Albert Mason emigrated to Los Angeles at the invitation of a group of young analysts to teach and train local clinicians in the British object relations tradition. They were joined by Susanna Isaacs Elmhirst for a period. London Kleinians in Los Angeles is a colorful account of the early days of psychoanalysis in LA, punctuated by in-person presentations from the leading Kleinians of the day, including Hanna Segal, Herbert Rosenfeld, Donald Meltzer, and Wilfred Bion himself. Their unpublished lectures from the 1960s and 1970s appear in Part I. Part II features seminal papers by the founding fathers of the Psychoanalytic Center of California (PCC): James Gooch, James Grotstein, Arthur Malin, and Albert Mason, the group's leading spokesperson. PCC continues to function as a vital center of psychoanalytic training and education in the British object relations tradition. The unearthing of four unpublished contributions from four founding Kleinians is an incredible find for psychoanalysis and this book is highly recommended to all professionals and trainees in the field. Those with an interest in the history of psychoanalysis will find much to excite them.

This book proposes new perspectives on relational wellness and the contemporary family—combining a psychoanalytic overview with scientific research about the burgeoning popularity of divorce, the increase in “stepfamilies,” and the use of social networks as well as other technologies. In this day and age, psychoanalysis has become increasingly interested in hyper-modern scenarios; for example, social networks and apps provide matching algorithms, which allow users to connect with people of similar interests. These networks have become one of the places where dissatisfied partners seek "more satisfactory situations.” In the United Kingdom, cohabitation lasts for up to two years, on average, and 40% of marriages end in divorce. In the United States, the percentage rises: it has now reached 50%. Today the value of temporariness, in which everything is fragmented, is exalted. On the other hand, is it wrong to deny the natural ebb and flow of human feeling?

Winner of the 2014 Goethe Award for Psychoanalytic and Psychodynamic Scholarship! A Relational Psychoanalytic Approach to Couples Psychotherapy presents an original model of couples treatment integrating ideas from a host of authors in relational psychoanalysis. It also includes other psychoanalytic traditions as well as ideas from other social sciences. This book addresses a vacuum in contemporary psychoanalysis devoid of a comprehensively relational way to think about the practice of psychoanalytically oriented couples treatment. In this book,Philip Ringstrom sets out a theory of practice that is based on three broad themes: The actualization of self experience in an intimate relationship The partners' capacity for mutual recognition versus mutual negation The relationship having a mind of its own Based on these three themes, Ringstrom's model of treatment is articulated in six non-linear, non-hierarchical steps that wed theory with practice - each powerfully illustrated with case material. These steps initially address the therapist’s attunement to the partners' disparate subjectivities including the critical importance of each one's perspective on the "reality" they co-habit.Their perspectives are fleshed out through the exploration of their developmental histories with focus on factors of gender and culture and more. Out of this arises the examination of how conflictual pasts manifest in dissociated self-states, the illumination of which lends to the enrichment of self-actualization, the facilitation of mutual recognition, and the capacity to more genuinely renegotiate their relationship. The book concludes with a chapter that illustrates one couple treated through all six steps and a chapter on frequently asked questions ("FAQ's") derived from over thirty years of practice, teaching, supervision and presentations during the course of this books development. A Relational Psychoanalytic Approach to Couples Psychotherapy balances a great range of ways to work with couples, while also providing the means to authentically negotiate their differences in a way which is insightful and invaluable. This book is for practitioners of couples therapy and psychoanalytic practitioners. It is also aimed at undergraduate, graduates, and postgraduate students in the fields of psychiatry, psychology, marriage and family therapy, and social work.

How do the analyst's consciously held theoretical commitments intersect with the actual conduct of analysis? Do commitments to notions like "psychic truth" or "analytic neutrality" affect interpretive style, the willingness to acknowledge treatment mistakes, and other pragmatic preferences? Does the commitment to cerain comcepts entail commitment to related ideas and practices to the exclusion of others? This is the uncharted domain that Victoria Hamilton explores in The Analyst's Preconscious. At the heart of her endeavor is an imaginatively conceived empirical investigation revolving around in-depth interviews with 65 leading analysts in the United States and Britain. In these lively and free-ranging discussions, the reader encounter firsthand the thoughtfulness with which practitioners wrestle with the ambiguous relations between various theoretical positions, whether or not their own, and the exigencies of the therapeutic encounter. The result is a uniquely detailed map of contemporary psychoanalysis. Hamilton documents the existence of different analytic cultures, each shaped by a need to maintain inner consistency among fundamental assumptions and also by extratheoretical factors, including geography, collegial experiences, and exposure to particular teachers and supervisors. A major contribution to understanding the pluralism of contemporary psychoanalysis, The Analyst's Preconscious is also a celebration of the dedication and sensitivity with which contemporary analysts seek to organize their therapeutic practices amidst the welter of proliferating concepts and rival schools of thought. Coming at a critical juncture in the history of the field, this work is indispensable to all who care about psychoanalytic culture and psychoanalytic practice, and especially about the analyst's real-world adaptation to the theoretical turbulence of our time.

Integrating relational theory with technique, this text reveals the personal nature of the process of group therapy as it affects the group therapist and group members. It builds on Bion's early theory of group and his later formulations regarding the structure of thought and the role of affect.

Many people come to analysis appearing quite 'ordinary' on the surface. However, once below that surface, we often come into contact with something quite unexpected: 'extra-ordinary protections' created to keep at bay any awareness of deeply traumatic happenings occurring at some point in life. Judith Mitrani investigates the development and the function of these protections, allowing the reader to witness the evolution of the process of transformation, wherein defensiveness steadily mutates into communication. She lucidly and artfully weaves detailed clinical with a variety of analytic concepts, and her original notions - including 'unmentalized experience' and its expression in enactments; 'adhesive pseudo-object relations' and the way in which this contracts and compares with normal and narcissistic object relations - provide valuable tools for understanding the infantile transference/countertransference and for the refinement of our technique with primitive mental states. Ordinary People and Extra-Ordinary Protections will prove stimulating and accessible in its style and substance to a broad analytic readership, from the serious student of psychoanalysis to the most seasoned professional.

Winner of th 2023 American Board and Academy of Psychoanalytic and Psychodynamic Psychology (ABAPPP) Annual Award! This book aims to integrate different psychoanalytic schools and relevant research findings into an integrated psychoanalytic theory of the mind. A main claim explored here, is that a revised and expanded ego psychology constitutes the strongest foundation not only for a unified psychoanalytic theory, but also for the integration of relevant research findings from other disciplines. Sophisticated yet accessible, the book includes a description of the basic tenets of ego psychology and necessary correctives and revisions. It also discusses research and theory on interpersonal understanding, capacity for inhibition, defense, delay of gratification, autonomous ego aims and motives, affect regulation, the nature of psychopathology; and the implications of a revised and expanded ego psychology for approaches to treatment. The book will appeal to readers who are interested in psychoanalysis, the nature of the mind, the nature of psychopathology, and the implications of theoretical formulations and research findings for approaches to treatment. As such, it will also be of great value on graduate and training courses for psychoanalysis.

The Handbook of Contemporary Animism brings together an international team of scholars to examine the full range of animist worldviews and practices. The volume opens with an examination of recent approaches to animism. This is followed by evaluations of ethnographic, cognitive, literary, performative, and material culture approaches, as well as advances in activist and indigenous thinking about animism. This handbook will be invaluable to students and scholars of Religion, Sociology and Anthropology.