This book is a unique and superb gateway to current psychoanalytic thinking. Thirty of America's foremost psychoanalysts -- leaders in defining the current pluralistic state of the profession -- have each presented what they consider to be their most significant contribution to the field. No mere anthology, these are the key writings that underlie current discussions of psychoanalytic theory and technique. The chapters cover contemporary ideas of intersubjectivity, object relations theory, self psychology, relational psychoanalysis, hermeneutics, clinical technique, changing concepts of unconscious, empirical research, infant observation, gender and sexuality, and more. While the differences in point of view are profound, there is also a striking coherence on some core issues. Each of the contributions features an introduction by the volume editor and a note by the author explaining the rationale for its selection. The brilliant introduction by Peter Fonagy provides an overview and places each author in the context of contemporary psychoanalysis. A list of the authors may convey the astonishing breadth of this volume:Brenner, Bromberg, Busch, Chodorow, Cooper, Emde, Friedman, Gabbard, Goldberg, Greenberg, Grossman, Hoffman, Jacobs, Kantrowitz, Kernberg, Levenson, Luborsky, Michels, Ogden, Ornstein, Person, Pine, Renik, Schafer, Schwaber, Shapiro, Smith, Stern, Stolorow, Wallerstein This is a "best of the best" volume -- cutting-edge writing, highly accessible and studded with vivid clinical illustrations. Anyone wishing to acquire a comprehensive, authoritative, readily accessible -- even entertaining -- guide to American psychoanalytic thinking will find their goal fulfilled in this monumental collection.
ContributorsPrefaceIntroduction: Walking Among GiantsChapter 1. Conflict, compromise formation and structural theoryChapter 2. Treating patients with symptoms -- and symptoms with patience: reflections on shame, dissociation, and eating disordersChapter 3. "In the neighborhood": aspects of a good interpretation and a "developmental lag" in ego psychologyChapter 4. Heterosexuality as a compromise formation: reflections on the psychoanalytic theory of sexual developmentChapter 5. The narcissistic-masochistic characterChapter 6. Mobilizing fundamental modes of development: empathic availability and therapeutic actionChapter 7. Ferrum, ignis, and medicina: return to the crucibleChapter 8. Miscarriages of psychoanalytic treatment with suicidal patientsChapter 9. Between empathy and judgmentChapter 10. Conflict in the middle voiceChapter 11. The self as fantasy: fantasy as theoryChapter 12. Ritual and spontaneity in the psychoanalytic processChapter 13. On misreading and misleading patients: some reflections on communications, miscommunications, and countertransference enactmentsChapter 14. The external observer and the lens of the patient-analyst matchChapter 15. Recent developments in the technical approaches of English-language psychoanalytic schoolsChapter 16. The pursuit of the particular: on the psychoanalytic inquiryChapter 17. A relationship pattern measure: the Core Conflictual Relationship ThemeChapter 18. Psychoanalysts' theoriesChapter 19. The analytic third: implications for psychoanalytic theory and techniqueChapter 20. Chronic rage from underground: reflections on its structure and treatmentChapter 21. Knowledge and authority: the godfather fantasyChapter 22. The four psychologies of psychoanalysis and their place in clinical workChapter 23. Playing one's cards face up in analysis: an approach to the problem of self-disclosureChapter 24. Narration in the psychoanalytic dialogue: psychoanalytic theories as narrativesChapter 25. The struggle to listen: continuing reflections, lingering paradoxes, and some thoughts on recovery of memoryChapter 26. On reminiscencesChapter 27. Countertransference, conflictual listening, and the analytic object relationshipChapter 28. Some implications of infant observations for psychoanalysisChapter 29. World horizons: a post-Cartesian alternative to the Freudian unconsciousChapter 30. One psychoanalysis or many?Index
