Introduction to Psychoanalysis: Contemporary Theory and Practice - Softcover

Bateman, Anthony W.; Holmes, Jeremy; Allison, Elizabeth

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0367375710 ISBN 13: 9780367375713

Publisher: Routledge, 2021

Synopsis

What is psychoanalysis? Is it relevant to today’s mental health crisis? How can psychoanalysis help people suffering from psychological distress and illness? This vital new book examines how psychoanalysis has changed since its inception, and how it has adapted to the needs and concerns of 21st-century mental health professionals and patients.

The first part of this book provides a concise and unbiased account of the origins of psychoanalysis, and the theories which characterise the main post-Freudian schools – neo-Freudian, Kleinian, interpersonal, self-psychological, Lacanian – and the ways in which they agree and diverge. The second part uses clinical illustrations to examine the practicalities of psychoanalytic technique in the consulting room – assessment, free association, dream analysis, transference, and counter-transference. Whatever their allegiance or role, mental health professionals – psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, child mental health professionals, mental health nurses – need to be conversant with the strengths, relevance, and limitations of the psychoanalytic approach.

This book provides an indispensable, up-to-date, and accessible account of psychoanalysis today. Shaped throughout by considering the viewpoint of an interested 21st-century reader, it is of great interest to psychoanalysts and related mental health professionals, as well as students and all those interested in the treatment of mental health.

About this title

About the Author

Anthony W. Bateman is a psychoanalyst whose work on applying psychoanalytic ideas in health service settings led to the development of mentalisation-based treatment for severe personality disorder. He is recognised internationally for his writing and research work and has published widely on mentalisation, borderline personality disorder, and the application of psychotherapy in psychiatry.

Jeremy Holmes is a retired psychiatrist and psychoanalytic psychotherapist. He has published 250+ papers and chapters, and has authored or co-authored 21 books in the fields of attachment theory and psychoanalysis. His most recent books are Attachment in Therapeutic Practice (2017) and The Brain Has a Mind of its Own (2020).

Elizabeth Allison is the Director of the Psychoanalysis Unit at University College London. She is a psychoanalyst and member of the British Psychoanalytical Society. She is a member of the Editorial Board of Routledge's New Library of Psychoanalysis, an associate member of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Psychoanalysis, and a co-editor of the Developments in Psychoanalysis book series.

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0367375710
• ISBN 13: 9780367375713
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 360