ABSTRACT
The underlying viewpoint of this book is that actual sequences of thinking are at the very core of the psychoanalytic trade. Thinking and disturbances in it are present in every clinical minute of a psychoanalytic therapist’s day. However, with a few exceptions, it has not been psychoanalysts but cognitive psychologists, in the tradition of Piaget or Bruner say, who have devoted themselves to the detailed investigation of thinking processes and to informing us about them. Even so it is likely that all psychopathology entails at least some disturbance in thinking. This is obvious of course in the thought disorders of psychoses, but neurotic pathology involves at least some thought disturbance. Both neurotic symptoms and disabling character structures manifest obliterations or distortions of thinking processes. This is clear when we recognize that any defensive act affects thought, otherwise it could not be known as a defence.
