Can Gender Discourses Subvert Psychoanalysis?

• By Louise Gyler

Feminist interventions in psychoanalysis have often attempted either to subvert or re-frame the masculinist and phallocentric biases of Freud's psychoanalysis. This book investigates the nature of these interventions by comparing the status and treatment of women in two different psychoanalytic models: the Kleinian and the feminist psychoanalytic models. It argues that, in fact, these interventions have historically tended to reinforce such biases by collapsing the distinction between the gendered minds of individuals and theories of gender.

This investigation is framed by three key claims. First, in assessing the position of women and the feminine in psychoanalysis, The Gendered Unconscious explores not only the ways they are represented in theory, but also how these representations function in practice. Secondly, using a framework of a comparative dialogue, this book explores the underlying assumptions and values that function both in theory and in clinical practice in the two psychoanalytic models. This comparative critique concludes with the counter-intuitive claim that contemporary Kleinian theory may, in practice, hold more radical possibilities for the interests of women than the practices derived from contemporary psychoanalytic gender theory.

This book will be of significant interest to those studying the psychology of women, psychoanalytic studies, health psychology, sociology, gender studies and cultural studies. It will also be of interest to clinicians and candidates of professional psychotherapy and psychoanalytic training programmes.

ISBN: 9780415401708

Published July 01 2009 by Routledge.

A Psychoanalytic Perspective for Psychiatry

• By Richard Lucas

The Psychotic Wavelength provides a psychoanalytical framework for clinicians to use in everyday general psychiatric practice and discusses how psychoanalytic ideas can be of great value when used in the treatment of seriously disturbed and disturbing psychiatric patients with psychoses, including both schizophrenia and the affective disorders.

In this book Richard Lucas suggests that when clinicians are faced with psychotic patients, the primary concern should be to make sense of what is happening during their breakdown. He refers to this as tuning into the psychotic wavelength, a process that allows clinicians to distinguish between, and appropriately address, the psychotic and non-psychotic parts of the personality. He argues that if clinicians can find and identify the psychotic wavelength, they can more effectively help the patient to come to terms with the realities of living with a psychotic disorder.

Divided into five parts and illustrated throughout with illuminating clinical vignettes, case examples and theoretical and clinical discussions, this book covers:

• the case for a psychoanalytical perspective on psychosis
• a historical overview of psychoanalytical theories for psychosis
• clinical evidence supporting the concept of a psychotic wavelength
• the psychotic wavelength in affective disorders
• implications for management and education.

The Psychotic Wavelength is an essential resource for anyone working with disturbed psychiatric patients. It will be of particular interest to junior psychiatrists and nursing staff and will be invaluable in helping to maintain treatment aims and staff morale. It will also be useful for more experienced psychiatrists and psychoanalysts.

ISBN: 9780415484688

Published July 01 2009 by Routledge.

• By Ralph Slovenko

ISBN: 9780415933643

Published June 26 2009 by Routledge.

Philosophical Resources for Contemporary Psychoanalysis and the Humanistic Psychotherapies

• By Donna M. Orange

Thinking for Clinicians provides analysts of all orientations with the tools and context for working critically within psychoanalytic theory and practice. It does this through detailed chapters on some of the philosophers whose work is especially relevant for contemporary theory and clinical writing: Emmanuel Levinas, Martin Buber, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Hans-Georg Gadamer. Orange presents the historical background for their ideas, along with clinical vignettes to help contextualize their theories, further grounding them in real-world experience. With a hermeneutic sensibility firmly in mind, Thinking for Clinicians rewards as it challenges and will be a valuable reference for clinicians who seek a better understanding of the philosophical bases of contemporary psychoanalytic theory.

ISBN: 9780881634921

Published June 24 2009 by Routledge.

Psychoanalytic Approaches

• Edited by Monica Lanyado, Ann Horne

This updated edition of The Handbook of Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy reflects the many changes in the profession. It includes:

• additional chapters on neuroscience, work with ‘looked after children’ and with foster parents, working in schools
• enlarged chapters on research, attachment theory, work with parents, and developments in child and adolescent psychotherapy around the world
• chapters on areas of specialist interest including violence, sexual abuse and abusing, trauma, parent-infant psychotherapy, autism, victims of political violence, delinquency and gender dysphoria.

The Handbook remains accessible and jargon-free. It will be a valuable resource for all who work in allied professions where the emotional well-being of children is of concern – health, education, social services – as well as trainee psychotherapists and experienced practitioners.

ISBN: 9780415463683

Published June 11 2009 by Routledge.

Independent Psychoanalytic Approaches with Children and Adolescents

• Edited by Ann Horne, Monica Lanyado

Winnicott’s description of "doing something else" or "working as a psychoanalyst" when not engaged in the actual analysis of his patients resonates with the child psychotherapist today. Individual psychotherapy is certainly a valuable part of the work but much of the time the CPT is "doing something appropriate to the occasion". Some of this time is spent in assessment work – for therapy, for the multi-professional team and for other agencies – and some in consultation to colleagues and other professional staff or in a combination of the two.

Drawing from the Independent tradition in psychoanalysis, Through Assessment to Consultation explores the application of psychoanalytic thinking to this daily work, reflecting on what is actually done and why. Contributors to the three sections – ‘Assessment’, ‘Overlaps’, ‘Consultation and Beyond’ – provide a variety of clinical illustrations as they describe a range of approaches and settings in the tasks of both assessment and consultation, ranging from the light impact of the analyst’s presence in the grief of post–9/11 New York to the call to political potency of ‘beyond consultation.’

This book will help both new and experienced Child and Adolescent Psychotherapists re-examine their role and function in the team and in the outside world, and will also be of interest to specialist health workers, educational psychologists and those wanting to explore more Winnicottian approaches to therapeutic work.

ISBN: 9780415462891

Published May 06 2009 by Routledge.

• By Pamela Thurschwell

The work of Sigmund Freud has penetrated almost every area of literary theory and cultural studies, as well as contemporary culture. Pamela Thurschwell explains and contextualises psychoanalytic theory and its meaning for modern thinking. This updated second edition explores developments and responses to Freud’s work, including:

• Tracing contexts and developments of Freud’s work over the course of his career
• Exploring paradoxes and contradictions in his writing
• Focusing on psychoanalysis as an interpretative strategy, paying special attention to its impact on literary and cultural theory
• Examining the recent backlash against Freud and arguing for the continued relevance of psychoanalysis.

Encouraging and preparing readers to approach Freud’s original texts, this guide ensures that readers of all levels will find Freud accessible, challenging and of continued relevance.

ISBN: 9780415473682

Published April 28 2009 by Routledge.

Self-Realization in Psychoanalysis and Art

• By Kenneth Wright

Mirroring and Attunement offers a new approach to psychoanalysis, artistic creation and religion. Viewing these activities from a broadly relational perspective, Wright proposes that each provides a medium for creative dialogue: the artist discovers himself within his self-created forms, the religious person through an internal dialogue with ‘God’, and the analysand through the inter-subjective medium of the analysis.

Building on the work of Winnicott, Stern and Langer, the author argues that each activity is rooted in the infant’s preverbal relationship with the mother who ‘holds’ the emerging self in an ambience of mirroring forms, thereby providing a ‘place’ for the self to ‘be’. He suggests that the need for subjective reflection persists throughout the life cycle and that psychoanalysis, artistic creation and religion can be seen as cultural attempts to provide the self with resonant containment. They thus provide renewed opportunities for holding and emotional growth.

Mirroring and Attunement will provide essential reading for psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, and art therapists and be of interest to anyone working at the interface between psychoanalysis, art and religion.

ISBN: 9780415468299

Published April 23 2009 by Routledge.

DSM-V and Beyond

• Edited by Paul F. Dell, John A. O'Neil

Dissociation and the Dissociative Disorders is a book that has no real predecessor in the dissociative disorders field. It (1) reports the most recent scientific findings and conceptualizations about dissociation, (2) defines and establishes the boundaries of current knowledge in the dissociative disorders field, (3) identifies and carefully articulates the field’s current points of confusion, gaps in knowledge, and conjectures, (4) clarifies the different aspects and implications of dissociation, and (5) sets forth a research agenda for the next decade. In many respects, Dissociation and the Dissociative Disorders both defines and redefines the field.

ISBN: 9780415957854

Published April 20 2009 by Routledge.

A Psychoanalytic Inquiry

• By Gemma Corradi Fiumara

Psychoanalytic theory frequently explains psychopathology from the perspective of either inadequate early care or as the result of environmental factors. In this book the author suggests that poor mental health can be a result of our incapacity to respond to internal and external stimuli, and indicates that spontaneity is essential in the development of many aspects of the self.

It is not what happens to us, but how we react to events, that forms who we are. Spontaneity presents an original approach to issues of agency, spontaneity and creativity in psychoanalysis by exploring questions including:

• active internalisation
• paradox
• forgiveness
• responsibility
• empathy
• self de-creation.

This book will be essential reading for psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, philosophers and psychologists. It will also prove to be engaging for those interested in psychoanalytic theory and theories of subjectivity.

ISBN: 9780415492683

Published March 27 2009 by Routledge.