ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book presents the debate on the scientificity of psychoanalysis. It also presents the scope and complexity of Anna Freud's contributions. The North American Freudians found the British analytic idiom deeply uncongenial. There were, however, some members of the North American psychoanalytic community who were enthusiastic about integrating British concepts with mainstream American ego psychology. During the early years of psychoanalysis, emphasis was given to sexuality and the unconscious. One of the earliest members of Freud's circle, Paul Federn, was primarily interested in variations in what they called "I-feeling". Concern with the experiential aspects of human existence was carried forward by the humanistic psychotherapists. The book emphasizes the wide proliferation of the Lacanian approach. The Lacanian approach is perhaps the most widely practiced form of psychoanalysis in the world.
