ABSTRACT
The comparative project that is the subject of this book is concerned with trying to describe and specify psychoanalytical traditions as different as British, French, Kleinian, independent, contemporary Freudian and Lacanian, together with techniques and theories as diverse as drive psychology, ego psychology, object relations psychology and newer developments, such as relational psychoanalysis and intersubjectivism. The aim is to be able to get to know these traditions thoroughly, in sufficient detail, and from within. The comparative process brings to light similarities as well as differences, and, in the course of this process, we hope it may be possible to understand more precisely what psychoanalysis is. Or perhaps we will be left repeating Wolfgang Loch: ‘One cannot say what psychoanalysis is; it becomes apparent’ (personal communication).
