ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews B. Priel and G. Schreiber's paper "On psychoanalysis: The paradigm of bifurcation" and two short discussions published along with their original article, the first by C. Denman, and the second by M. R. Gardner. Priel and Schreiber's article is a good place to begin because their concise article invites one to consider several complex psychological variables in relation to non-linear dynamics, a branch of mathematics that covers phenomena that appear random but are actually deterministic. They assert the applicability of chaos theory to psychoanalysis for a variety of reasons. One advantage of chaos theory for them is that it smoothly takes into account the surprise and complexity that invariably plays a crucial role in clinical psychoanalysis proper. The writing of the American psychoanalysts might also be usefully consulted for readers who wish a better understanding of what is being bravely asserted by Priel and Schreiber.
