There is a great deal of confusion about psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy, even among practitioners of these methods. One reason is the sheer volume of psychoanalytic psychotherapies currently practised around the world; some very similar, others widely divergent. To help allay this confusion, Kevin Volkan and Vamik Volkan present what lies at the heart of psychoanalysis and demonstrate the different ways this core can manifest in practice.
The authors’ aim is to improve psychoanalytic psychotherapists’ professional identities as well as their approaches to patients. The wide-ranging subjects discussed include therapeutic principles; key psychoanalytic concepts; psychotherapeutic identity; the clinician’s office; making formulations and interpretations; psychosocial development; individual and large-group identity; trauma and transgenerational transmission; dreams and unconscious fantasies; therapeutic play; personality organisations; cultural considerations; and psychoanalysis in organisations and groups.
Volkan and Volkan draw upon their decades of experience of psychoanalysis, biculturalism, and supervision of colleagues in various countries and cultures to create an exceptional textbook to explain psychoanalytic theory clearly. They present compelling case examples to illustrate technical issues that never lose sight of psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy as living professions that continue to develop. This is a must-read for all who want to learn more about psychoanalytic practice and theory.
Table of Contents
About the authors
About this book
Chapter 1
Psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy: five therapeutic principles
Chapter 2
Id, ego, and superego
Chapter 3
Psychotherapeutic identity, confidentiality, and psychotherapist disclosure
Chapter 4
Neutrality, transference, countertransference, counterresponses
Chapter 5
The psychoanalytic clinician’s office
Chapter 6
Developmental levels
Chapter 7
Defense mechanisms
Chapter 8
Resistances
Chapter 9
Making formulations, interpretations, and working through
Chapter 10
The separation–individuation level and psychosocial development
Chapter 11
Individual identity and large-group identity
Chapter 12
Traumas and transgenerational transmissions
Chapter 13
Two case stories illustrating transgenerational transmissions
Chapter 14
Dreams and unconscious fantasies
Chapter 15
Therapeutic play
Chapter 16
Personality organizations
Chapter 17
A story of a psychoanalysis illustrating psychoanalytic terms and concepts
Chapter 18
Two brief psychoanalytic psychotherapy cases
Chapter 19
A psychotherapy case with cultural considerations
Chapter 20
Psychoanalytic ideas related to organizations and groups
Chapter 21
Concepts related to psychoanalytic group psychotherapy
Coda
References
Index