ABSTRACT

Families in Transformation is a collection of essays by eminent scholars on the psychoanalysis of couples and families and provides a wide ranging and articulated picture of the current situation in Europe. The reader will find various psychoanalytical models applied in it: from object relations theory to group analysis to the theory of links, encountering the lively and rich French, Italian, and British schools at work in different settings. Themes range from myths to secrets, to incest and the brotherly dimension of families; from adoptive families to the conflicts over separation, in addition to papers discussing perverse and violent couples. The book shows how it is possible to put together an understanding of the individual's internal world with the interpersonal dynamics of families, their bonds and relations, expressed in somatic and active terms at the inter- and trans-generational level.

part I|125 pages

Couples and Families Today

chapter One|18 pages

The psychical reality of linking *

chapter Five|11 pages

The frightened couple *

part III|137 pages

Clinical Work with Families and Couples

chapter Ten|13 pages

Couples and the perverse link *

chapter Twelve|12 pages

Fraternal incest: fraternal links *

chapter Seventeen|13 pages

Family myths * and pathological links