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A ground-breaking psychoanalytic study on sexuality which maintains its originality today, forty-five years after its first publication. The book is a revision of psychoanalytic theory, starting with the work of Freud himself and including Melanie Klein's contributions on the early Oedipus Complex and the Depressive Position. But more than that, it is a metapsychological study of sexuality which provides a different perspective from more well-known ones that relate simply to a descriptive or behavioural point of view. In differentiating adult sexuality from infantile sexuality and polymorphism and perversion, taking unconscious phantasy and the notion of the primal scene as the pivotal point, Meltzer proposes a unified theoretical and clinical model which has proved of particular help in the field of the psychopathology of addictions and perversions.

This is a book to which the attention of students of art theory and criticism, and all those interested in the important application of psychoanalysis to other fields of study, should be drawn. Psychoanalytic Aesthetics rethinks the classical account of the relation between art and madness, creativity and psychoneurosis, and the distinction between the primary and secondary processes. It covers a great deal of ground and reviews many psychoanalytic writers (predominantly of the British tradition) on aesthetics, as well as many of the aestheticians using a psychoanalytic background. It is well written and there is an impressive grasp of the many writers covered. More than this, the book is also a work of psychoanalytic scholarship, being a masterly overview of psychoanalytic schools of thought, and an in-depth study of the British object-relations schools. It amply achieves its overriding goal to demonstrate that the work of the British School presents a significant contribution to psychoanalytic aesthetics and criticism, updating Freud, Kris and the classical contributions to the field. It is therefore potentially a very useful source book for future scholars of both psychoanalysis and of aesthetics.

This volume has grown over the years as a family project of Martha Harris, her two daughters Meg and Morag and her husband, Donald Meltzer. It therefore has its roots in English literature and its branches waving wildly about in psychoanalysis. It is earnestly hoped that it will reveal more problems than it will solve.

This book brings together the closely observed development of Simone (from birth to three) and the perceptive comments of Martha (or Mattie) Harris, who was such an influential figure in the development of the Observational Studies Course at the Tavistock. Romana Negri's pioneering work on neonatal intensive care units is informed both by infant observation and by psychoanalysis. She presents in this volume the transcribed tapes of her detailed observation of a normally developing infant, whom Martha Harris supervised for three years. Other chapters present observations of children in hospital that formed part of their diagnostic assessment, and the book includes commentaries by Donald Meltzer and Martha Harris together. This book will be of outstanding interest to all readers whether parents, teachers, or mental health professionals who wish to deepen their understanding of the roots of mental life.

This book focuses on adolescence and adolescent states of mind. It is one of a series that record Donald Meltzer's clinical seminars and supervisions, which were conducted in various countries on a regular basis over many years. Despite his interest in the theoretical advances of psychoanalysis made during what he termed The Kleinian Development, Meltzer believed that clinical supervision was the only way to teach psychoanalytic practice. In effect he treated supervision as an art form just as he regarded psychoanalysis as an art form. The library of his supervision work, almost all recorded outside the UK, thus forms a valuable teaching model for future practitioners, as well as demonstrating Meltzer's wealth of insight into both character development and analytic technique.

In this compact and illuminating study of the evolving theoretical framework informing psychoanalytic work with couples, the authors highlight concepts that have been most drawn upon in developing dynamic couple therapy. They chart the shifting emphasis away from interpreting and reconstructing the past towards approaches that engage partners and therapists in constructing and reflecting on their encounters with each other in the present. The triangular space that is created through this process contains therapists as well as the couples with whom they talk, and invites us to revisit the essential nature of the therapeutic conversation in this light. A thoughtful and fascinating book that will interest everyone who is keen to understand the interior world of couple psychotherapy.

This book investigates the underlying psychology of the societal divisions occurring in the world and includes the author‿s personal observations and experiences of racism as a ‿voluntary immigrant‿ to the US over six decades ago. This immensely readable book, written in a beautifully clear and jargon-free prose, features an Addendum on Covid-19.

A compelling true story of one woman's battle with the aftermath of childhood trauma, which gives a gripping account of the often controversial and misunderstood condition of dissociative identity disorder (formerly known as multiple personality disorder). This emotional but ultimately uplifting journey details the unforeseen twists and turns of the effects of therapy and how it can help in coming to terms with the past and its unsettling echoes in the present. Heartwarming and clinically rigorous, professional therapists will gain insight into the various treatment options for DID, including the innovative use of energy therapy. The book contains 29 colour illustrations, including 24 drawings by The Girls. The star of this book is an extraordinary, bright-spirited, and entertaining six-year-old girl, called Little Vivvi, who experienced shocking abuse from within her family. Yet Little Vivvi lives within Vivian, a middle-aged woman. The challenging process of psychotherapy is laid bare, as Little Vivvi wrestles with overwhelming memories of childhood abuse. Alongside talking therapy, energy treatment, which she calls Wooshing, is utilised to astonishing effect, becoming the enigmatic ingredient that finally enables Little Vivvi to find relief from the distress and fear that had dominated her existence. As therapy appears to draw to a close, Izzy appears. A very sensitive, thoughtful and mature eight-year-old, Izzy too needs love, support and treatment to speak about her trauma. After overcoming her understandable distrust, Izzy enables an exceptional ending to the therapeutic journey, far beyond anything Vivian and her therapist, Gill, could have dreamed. Little Vivvi and Izzy will make you want to laugh out loud as well as cry. Their story teaches so much about suffering, dissociation and survival. Their aim is to enlighten, inspire and offer hope to others through reading their incredible stories, which reveal the astonishing power of The Girls within.

In Suffering and Sacrifice in the Clinical Encounter, the authors identify the ways in which some patients seek to create what Freud termed a 'private religion' and unconsciously substitute sacrificial enactments of scapegoat surrogates to protect them against the pain of separation, mourning, and loss of primary figures of attachment. They investigate the function of sacrifice and its relationship to the breakdown of psychic structure and the development of manic defenses and pathological narcissism. Such treatments are complex, the 'reversed roles' of victim and perpetrator central to the sacrificial process when enacted in therapy can trigger feelings of shame, guilt and inadequacy in the therapist. Perverse, vengeful, and sadistic transference distortions are explored to enable the therapist to appreciate the true nature of the patient's hidden traumatic experience, with the necessity for the working-through of genuine separation and grieving highlighted. Useful methods are detailed to counter the tendency to become overly active and inappropriately involved when working with patients who have deadened their desire to improve. This book is unique in utilising the dynamic concepts of the effects of trauma and sacrifice, the role of the scapegoat, and the distinctions between the experience of pain and the accomplishment of suffering in order to develop a foundational understanding of such patients. It is a must-read for all practising and trainee therapists.

A literary masterpiece from world-renowned psychoanalyst and distinguished writer, Professor Martin Stanton that picks up the baton from R. D. Laing. Spanning a novel, travel-guide, documentary, self-help book, play, photo album, film script, and work of art, Making Sense is a cultural phenomenon - a long overdue wake-up call - railing at society's idealisation and narcissism. Martin Stanton has created a guide for a postmodern world that is constructed through social media, and communicates principally through tweets, texts and selfies. Like Homer's Odyssey, this is an epoch-changing classic that takes a timely quantum leap from a cognitive world of straight-line argument and causal interpretation, into a parallel unconscious universe of uncontrolled feeling, which traps fragments of fantasy in the retreating tides of reality. Making Sense collects together a group of major and minor characters, some real, some imaginary, who set out to make sense of life together by opening the social media gate between Reality and Fantasy. A survey of Martin Stanton's own thinking and feeling on his original psychoanalytic odyssey across becalmed seas, random conversations with a therapeutic parrot, stranded for a while with Socrates on the black sandy beach of Paradise, he explores how a bezoar stone, a caddis insect, and a karaoke moment can linger through his life, and make sense for him as a primary source; as unconscious effects which sustain, enlighten, and entertain him through darker times. This book scrawls a message of hope in the sand once the outgoing tide has retreated. 'Enjoy life', it says. 'Celebrate it in yourself and in others.

In the midst of atrocities, there is the silent presence of the brave individuals who act and stand apart from the crowd, who risk their own lives by rescuing others or by voicing their dissent. The actions of these exceptional individuals raise questions as to why they were able to do what they did and why other people don't. But if we look closer at their histories, we discover that they may not be as exceptional as we think. Bravery takes different forms in different contexts. Such as the young male patient, a war hero, struggling to separate from his refugee parents. Or Bailey Thompson, the 17-year-old who rescued concert-goers under sniper fire in Las Vegas in 2017. Or the student protestors in Hong Kong marching to protect their future and beliefs. The compulsion to act bravely is largely ascribed to conscience, that is, being true to one's beliefs. Those who act bravely do not feel as if they have a choice, because not to act is experienced as a betrayal of self. As such, bravery is a fundamental assertion not only of the self but of a moral order necessary to sustain the self. The perfect book for these unprecedented times, as we all need to find our own inner resources to face whatever lies ahead.

"Galvanised by events outside of his consulting room, David Morgan began The Political Mind seminars at the British Psychoanalytical Society in 2015 and their successful run continues today. A series of superlative seminars that examine the effects of the current upheaval going on worldwide, this book is the second to bring these seminars from leading thinkers to a wider audience. Leading politicians, writers, educators, psychoanalysts, psychologists, philosophers, psychotherapists, and psychologists are gathered together in this fascinating volume that investigates social upheaval on the worldwide stage. Stimulating and thought-provoking, this is a must-read for every citizen asking just what is happening in the world today."--Publisher's description.

In 1982, Nina Coltart gave a paper to the English-Speaking Conference of Psychoanalysts called 'Slouching towards Bethlehem... or Thinking the Unthinkable in Psychoanalysis' which created a stir and brought her to the attention of the psychoanalytic community. Ten years later, she produced her first book - this book - which contains her seminal paper alongside so many others of note. Full of eloquent, meaningful, and provocative clinical stories, Nina Coltart exposes the full truth of the therapeutic process, where an analyst may occasionally stray from orthodox practice but through such lapses may sometimes achieve hitherto unforeseen breakthroughs in treatment. This volume introduced Coltart's characteristic style of journeying through important issues in analytic practice. She elaborates on the use of intuition, the 'special' attention required by an analyst, the value of silence, and of humour, and the importance of psychosomatic processes - the way the body speaks through psychosomatic symptoms. All vitally relevant today and utterly groundbreaking at the time.

Vamik Volkan examines the impact of past and present historical events, cultural elements, political movements and their mental images on the psyche of individuals. Beginning with the history of the debates concerning the relevance of external events to the human psyche, Volkan moves on to look at the spread of psychoanalysis worldwide and the need to become familiar with the cultural, historical, and political issues when working abroad. The remaining chapters follow the story of a successful businessman who calls himself a 'Muslim Armenian'. His psychological journey clearly illustrates how ghosts from the past can remain alive and active in our lives, and how a clear understanding of his people's history and culture allowed the analyst to understand some important causes of his symptoms and personality characteristics. By presenting a total case report, Volkan illustrates the methods applied to improve the analysand's psychological health. By presenting a case from the viewpoint of a psychoanalytic supervisor, including the supervisor's reactions to the individual being analysed, he has exposed another rich topic to consideration. With this book, Vamik Volkan has given us much to reflect upon.