ABSTRACT
Confusing clinical standoffs, loyalty to self-destruction and abrupt terminations are challenging and under-examined problems for the modern psychoanalytic practitioner. The Danger of Change is a timely book that addresses the so-called resistant patient so many clinicians are familiar with.
Robert Waska blends theory based on Melanie Klein’s classical stance with the more contemporary Freudian/Kleinian school, to demonstrate how to understand patients that are resistant to progress. Divided into four sections, this book covers:
- reluctant patients and the fight against change: caught between the paranoid and depressive world
- greed and the dangers of change
- interruptions to the process of change: loss, envy, and the death instinct
- working toward change in the face of overwhelming odds
Extensive and detailed clinical material is used to bring clarity to subjects including symbolism, conflict resolution, projective identification, the depressive and paranoid positions, change and trust.
The Danger of Change brings hope and clarity to cases involving patients who experience progress as a threat to their emotional wellbeing. It will be of great interest to all practising psychoanalysts, as well as those studying psychoanalytic theory and practice.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|63 pages
Reluctant patients and the fight against change: caught between the paranoid and depressive world
chapter Chapter 1|13 pages
I hear you knocking but you can't come in *
chapter Chapter 2|16 pages
Mistrust of the good object
chapter Chapter 3|17 pages
Fighting off the good object
chapter Chapter 4|15 pages
Problems in receiving
part II|70 pages
Greed and the dangers of change
chapter Chapter 5|12 pages
Melanie Klein's theory of greed
chapter Chapter 6|12 pages
The frightening rumble of psychic hunger *
chapter Chapter 7|15 pages
The impossible dream and the endless nightmare *
chapter Chapter 8|14 pages
Greed, idealization, and insatiability *
chapter Chapter 9|15 pages
Setting the bar too high *
part III|57 pages
Interruptions to the process of change: loss, envy, and the death instinct
chapter Chapter 10|15 pages
The clinical advantage of the death instinct *
chapter Chapter 11|14 pages
Acting out and the death instinct *
chapter Chapter 12|16 pages
Borderline and psychotic patients *
chapter Chapter 13|10 pages
Oral deprivation, envy, and sadism *
part IV|50 pages
Working toward change in the face of overwhelming odds