Psychoanalysis is no stranger to evolution, but even for a field as accustomed to transformation as it is, the last several years have seen a profound shift in its practicenot least because of COVID-19 and social and cultural factors.
Whether those changes are permanent remains to be seen, but this third edition of the Textbook of Psychoanalysis addresses them head-on. Its first section includes not only how the pandemic has affected psychoanalysis but also how racial and ethnic tensions, redefined gender and sexual identities, and the effects of climate change have affected both the psychoanalyst and the patient, as well as the relationship between the two.
In subsequent sections, more than 40 contributors bring their expertise to bear as they discuss
Diverse schools of thought, including object relations theory, self psychology, interpersonal psychoanalysis, and contemporary field theory Core concepts, such as the role of the unconscious in psychoanalytic discourse; transference, countertransference, and enactment; and contemporary theories of unrepresented states Techniques and approaches that include child analysis, the integration of psychoanalysis and pharmacotherapy, and the place of ethics in psychoanalysis Research, including psychoanalytic process research, developmental research, and neuroscience research
This volume's editors, in the Introduction, confess that "none of us can predict the outcome" of the changes that psychoanalysisand, indeed, societyis facing. But, as another contributor later points out, "psychoanalysis is a profession centrally concerned with what is not known" and, therefore, may have a critical role to play in uncertain, extraordinary times.
With this new edition of the Textbook of Psychoanalysis, readers will have a firm foundation in psychoanalytic thought and practice from which to tackle today'sand tomorrow'smyriad unknowns.
"The psychoanalytic frame, as we have known it, is at risk of disappearing. Psychoanalysts must meet the challenges of working within a radically altered psychoanalytic frame at a time of antiscientific attitudes toward climate change and heightened demands for racial justice and gender self-identification. We live in a frightening world in which psychoanalytic thinking might be of great assistance. Authors in this new edition explore how psychoanalysis is evolving in the current zeitgeist with its many challenges. All the chapters show that psychoanalytic methods, while recognizing the importance of the past, continue to remain open to the potential for new possibilities even in uncertain, extraordinary times. The search for individual truth has always been at the core of psychoanalytic thought. This third edition acknowledges the sociocultural and geopolitical forces that are shaping all our lives and affecting our search for truth, with the aim of sustaining that search"--
