Main description:

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.

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