ABSTRACT

Living Psychoanalysis: From Theory to Experience represents a decade of work from one of today's leading psychoanalysts. Michael Parsons brings to life clinical psychoanalysis and its theoretical foundations, offering new developments in analytic theory and vivid examples of work in the consulting room. The book also explores connections between psychoanalysis, art and literature, showing how psychoanalytic insights can enrich our lives far beyond the clinical situation.

Living Psychoanalysis comprises four main sections:

Life and Death – asks what it means to be fully and creatively alive, and introduces the concept of avant-coup

Sexuality, Narcissism and the Oedipus complex – develops fresh ways of understanding these key concepts

How analysts listen – explores links between psychoanalytic listening and the way artists look at the world, and introduces the concept of the internal analytic setting

The Independent tradition in British psychoanalysis – considers the theoretical foundations of Independent clinical technique, and discusses from various perspectives the role of training in developing the identity of analysts and analytic therapists

With fresh theoretical concepts and a focus on specific aspects of clinical practice, Living Psychoanalysis: From Theory to Experience will be a valuable resource for analysts, therapists and professionals who wish to extend their vision of psychoanalysis. It will also be of great interest to general readers concerned to deepen their understanding of the links between culture and the mind.

part I|61 pages

Between Death and the Primal Scene

chapter 1|14 pages

Keeping Death Alive

chapter 2|18 pages

Why Did Orpheus Look Back?

Après-coup, avant-coup

chapter 3|13 pages

More About Memory

chapter 4|14 pages

In Defence of the Uncanny

part II|48 pages

Concepts on the Move

chapter 5|19 pages

Sexuality and Perversion

Discovering what Freud discovered

chapter 6|14 pages

Oedipal Disidentification

Au nom du fils, au nom de la fille

chapter 7|13 pages

Narcissism as Prison, Narcissism as Springboard

A Reading of Sophocles' Ajax

part III|58 pages

The Activity of Listening

chapter 10|16 pages

Raiding the Inarticulate

Internal setting, beyond countertransference

part IV|65 pages

Clinical Practice Taking Shape

chapter 11|13 pages

What Does Interpretation Put Into Words?

chapter 12|21 pages

An Independent Theory of Clinical Technique

chapter 13|29 pages

Forming an Identity

Reflections on psychoanalytic training