Review of Lacan.

Reviews the book, Lacan by Malcolm Bowie (see record 1991-97907-000). What is on offer here is one outcome of a conversation in which Lacan's texts--whatever their difficulties, obscurities, and seductive attractions--have been obliged to make their sense in and to a larger field of psychoanalytic concerns. Bowie divides Lacan's career into five main phases, to each of which he devotes a chapter. Bowie's is a strong and frequently persuasive partitioning of Lacan's development. The interplay between Bowie's style and his interrogation of Lacan's style is central and productive throughout the book. Those who have been wrestling with Lacan for some time will find there is room for reservations about Bowie's Lacan, and some of those reservations will be of possibly considerable consequence in the end. There will also be reservations provoked into explicitness by--and so also indebted to--Bowie's own argumentative clarity and force. And for those who are not already at grips with Lacan, for those who want an introduction to Lacan that is at once straightforward and fully serious, at once skeptical and generous, it is hard to imagine any other work that would serve as well. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Professional Burnout in the Mirror: A Qualitative Study From a Lacanian Perspective.

This article reports on a qualitative interview study that examined the job experiences of a group of burned-out professionals (n = 15). The authors studied the meanings these professionals associate with incidents in their intersubjective relations, as well as how they relate these incidents to their identity. The interpretation of the data starts from Lacanian psychoanalytic theory on identity (Lacan's "schema of the 2 mirrors"). The authors show how the concepts under discussion enable one to trace burnout dynamics in the relation between subject and other. A tripartite conceptual model that accounts for dynamic processes is presented. Each process is formulated conceptually on the basis of Lacan's schema of the 2 mirrors and is discussed with narrative data drawn from interview research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Recent developments in psychoanalysis.

Reviews the book, Recent developments in psychoanalysis by Morris N. Eagle (see record 1987-98252-000). This volume is a timely and important addition to psychoanalytic literature. Eagle states that it is "intended as a systematic overview of recent ideas with the aim of providing a coherent account of the current status of psychoanalytic theory." His overview is generally fair, but penetrating, and exposes much of the irrationality and confusion that have plagued psychoanalytic thinking recently. He suggests that this confusion has arisen out of the tendency of psychoanalytic theorists to ignore advances in other areas of psychological research and related fields, particularly in the area of psychology of child development. Further confusion has been created by their attempt to formulate new concepts and ideas within the framework of classical Freudian metapsychology, which is rooted in instinct theory. These attempts, in many cases, have led to the use of a psychoanalytic language full of jargon, rendering theoretical formulations expressed in this way totally incomprehensible and aloof from logical consideration, while pretending to add metapsychological depth. Ultimately, however, he tries to elucidate the many real contributions to psychoanalytic theory by these theorists and to integrate their work into a coherent framework. His efforts in this regard reflect a sympathetic approach to the aims and ideals of psychoanalysis as a social science and a form of therapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The double life of Véronique: An inquiry into the existence of woman.

This article is an analysis of the film La Double Vie de Veronique (The Double Life of Véronique; de la Fuente & Kieslowski, 1991) from a Lacanian psychoanalytic perspective. It explores significant differences in the experiences of two women, roles played by the same actress, presented in the film as identical in appearance, living in different places at the same time, and sharing similar life challenges and opportunities. The differences manifest themselves in their relation to the women's remarkable singing ability, their lovers, and familial figures. The early loss of the primary object, the mother, determines both women's being--one of the women more on the side of the normative woman, covering over the loss at the price of death, the other mourning the loss more subtly but no more immune to the forces within her. Both demonstrate Lacan's (1975) axiom that "Woman does not exist," namely, that she lives precariously near the real, on the boundaries of the symbolic and the imaginary. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The Psychoanalytic Process: Theory, Clinical Observation and Empirical Research.

The authors have tied their theory of psychopathology to notions of what fosters therapeutic progress and have then taken the unusual step of testing these ideas systematically and scientifically. Their book will appeal especially to those who are receptive to a cognitively oriented psychoanalytic approach and who advocate more informed, scientifically rigorous psychoanalytic research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychoanalysis and its critics.

This article discusses the question of the basis of changes in psychoanalytic concepts, theory, and treatment. Illustrative examples discussed include the "widening scope" of the use of "parameters" in psychoanalytic treatment; the rejection of the "Enlightenment Vision" and the concomitant de-emphasis on the role of insight; the concept of "narrative truth"; and the "totalistic" reconceptualization of the meaning of countertransferase. I then discuss the relationship between research and clinical practice and argue that if it is to grow, psychoanalysis must be open to and attempt to integrate findings from other related disciplines. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Recent developments in psychoanalysis: A critical evaluation.

Reviews the book, Recent developments in psychoanalysis: A critical evaluation by Morris N. Eagle (see record 1987-98252-000). This is, I believe, one of the most important books of psychoanalytic scholarship to emerge in the last few years. Morris Eagle has written a book that reviews and attempts to bring clarity to some of these newer speculations, while simultaneously seeking to maintain those aspects of historical scholarship that can withstand the test of time and prove relevant today. Eagle critically assesses the contributions of object relations theory, instinct theory, the psychoanalytic theory of therapy, problems of metapsychology and psychoanalytic epistemology, self psychology, the role of evidence in the formulation of clinical theory, the structural model of the mind, and the psychoanalytic theory of anxiety; that he is able to do so succinctly and coherently is a testimony to the focused intensity of much of the thinking in this provocative book. In conclusion, whether one agrees or not with Eagle's points, this book may be profitably read by students, psychologists, and psychoanalysts interested in the contemporary psychoanalytic scene. It joins a growing body of recent critical scholarship seeking to render psychoanalysis as a more humane, tough, and thoughtful discipline. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comment on interview with Dr. Peter Fonagy.

One of the fine things about the psychoanalytic community is that we have forums for discussing ideas. Accordingly, I want to add a couple of different reactions to Dr. Fonagy’s interview with Elliot Jurist. In the interview, Dr. Fonagy raises the ultimate question of what is psychoanalytic when he offers a couple of throw-away lines suggesting that emphasis upon the unconscious is old-fashioned and discardable. Nonetheless, it seems to me that more can be said about a number of Dr. Fonagy’s points in this interview. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Theoretical and philosophical issues in psychoanalysis.

Discusses the question of whether philosophical issues have a significant place in contemporary psychoanalytic thought. Topics covered include how the psychoanalytic theoretic enterprise is best viewed, how the person is viewed as an actor in his own life story, and the nature-nurture controversy. The author believes that current psychoanalytic thought reflects the philosophical concerns of mankind through the ages. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The playground of psychoanalytic therapy.

Reviews the book, The playground of psychoanalytic therapy by Jean Sanville (see record 1991-98946-000). Sanville studies psychoanalytic therapy and uses play and playing as the focal point, the pivotal organizing concept. She reviews the theory of psychoanalytic development and the dynamics of clinical intervention, and she attempts to integrate the contribution of her favorite authors, such as Winnicott, Stern, Kohut, and as always, Freud. Thus, the book is a textbook of Sanville's vast theoretical clinical experiences with the motive to document that play is the essential organizing and integrating mental activity. A book rich in considering the fabric of psychoanalytic psychotherapy with its broad frame of reference must greatly limit the ideas of the author, and I wish that there could be a more complete integration of her propositions. It is a pleasure to follow Sanville's case vignettes and to observe her gift and sensitivity with which she tunes into the inner life of her patients. Sanville's book explores a new metapsychological dimension embedded in object relation propositions. The reader will find unexpected rewards. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Elliot Jurist interviews Peter Fonagy.

Presents an interview of Peter Fonagy, by Elliot Jurist. In it, they discuss the future of the field of psychoanalytic psychology, the place that psychoanalysis will have within health care systems, how psychotherapy research could contribute to psychoanalysis, and potential contributions to the field from neurobiological research and other areas of psychology. Other topics covered include the traditional distinction between psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy, the importance for psychoanalysis to be familiar with developments in the CBT therapy tradition, how psychoanalytic education has changed over the last 10 years, and the issue of psychologist researchers who are critical of clinicians who are unresponsive to research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of When theories touch: A historical and theoretical integration of psychoanalytic thought.

Reviews the book, When theories touch: A historical and theoretical integration of psychoanalytic thought by Steven J. Ellman (2010). For anyone interested in studying the evolutionary history of psychoanalytic thinking, Steven Ellman’s When theories touch offers the most complete, most intelligently selected and organized, most instructive text available. Ellman understands very well that psychoanalysts writing about theory are all too often either sectarians or pluralists. Sectarians, by devoting themselves too exclusively to a single angle of view, remain overly limited and mistake the part for the whole. Pluralists, on the other hand, avoid the necessary scientific work of adjudicating among competing truth claims and resolving category errors by positioning various theories in relation to one another. Ellman steers a course nicely between Scylla and Charybdis. By focusing on the points at which theories touch, Ellman, in effect, invites us to hover over the blind men and take a look at the elephant as a whole. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Genealogy in psychoanalytic education: Reinforced adherence or useful aids toward individuation?

It is very likely that disagreements leading to opposing factions and conflict are universal, and part of the very nature of academic (intellectually and behaviorally expressive) institutions. Analytic "education" shares in this tradition. Internal conflict and splits within and between psychoanalytic training centers have continued to reappear throughout the history of the psychoanalytic movement. They were greatly magnified with the formation of "official, formal training." The authors propose highlighting the composite of personal and professional genealogies within the training analysis couple as opportunities to provide experiential, graphic consideration of the affiliative, disaffiliative, and identification processes, greatly enhanced when analysands, training analysts, and the Institute regard this as a valuable method to study the parallel phenomena evoked, experienced, and shared communally. These personal and group considerations are part of the shared genealogy and history of psychoanalytic Institute and Society life, their "parent" organizations, and "relatives" nationally and internationally. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A note on psychoanalysis in Canada.

Some historical and contemporary features of the psychoanalytic movement in Canada are brought to the attention of psychologists. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Empirical studies of psychoanalytical theories.

Reviews the book, Empirical studies of psychoanalytical theories, volume 1 by Joseph Masling (1983). Many psychoanalytic clinicians are comfortable functioning in the clinical world, using experience-near data. Many others are comfortable in the metapsychological world, using more experience-distant concepts. Some are even able to apply theory to practice, and modify one based on their experience of the other. But the bridge between the two, the middle-level described by Mayman, which represents the empirical joining of the theoretical and clinical, operationalized in the form of research which can inform either the clinical or the theoretical, is an area of lessened comfort for many. It is to this middle-level that Masling's book addresses itself, presenting examples of a wide variety of psychoanalytic research projects. Some are studies of psychoanalytic theory and others of psychoanalytic therapy; some are more empirical and others are more theoretical, some are original and others are reviews of already published material; but all provide an empirical grounding for practice. Stricker reviews the major findings and contributions of each of the seven chapters, and concludes with some general comments about psychoanalytic research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What psychoanalytic institutes must do to effectively recruit academic clinical psychology researchers to become psychoanalytic candidates.

As many psychoanalysts continue to increase their interest in psychoanalytic research, there has been a concerted attempt by psychoanalytic institutes to recruit academic clinical psychology researchers into the various training programs offered at institutes. Although this goal is laudable, there are a number of issues that psychoanalytic institutes must consider to effectively recruit and retain academic clinical psychologists to become psychoanalytic candidates. First, administrators, teachers, and supervisors at psychoanalytic institutes must become aware of and appreciate the demands of professorial life, especially for junior faculty members, and second, psychoanalytic institutes must make changes that will enable them to accommodate candidates who are academic clinical psychologists. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

New perspectives on development and their implications for psychoanalytic treatment.

Reviews the book, Psychoanalysis and infant research by Joseph D. Lichtenberg (1983). The burgeoning field of infant research has burst through the seams of our traditional view of infants. We now know that neonates are far more aware of their environment, more capable of eliciting responses from people, and more differentiated in their responses to caretakers and to a variety of external stimuli than we had ever believed. In part, this new knowledge has been gained through clever, creative experimentation by academic researchers. Experiments have been devised which are simple enough for neonatal responsiveness, yet offer relevant information about the infant's learning, cognitive, and emotional capacities. Joseph Lichtenberg's book, Psychoanalysis and infant research, presents this rich body of research. Were he content to offer us this new and absorbing view of the neonate, that alone would make the book interesting and worthwhile. Lichtenberg, however, is more ambitious. He sees important implications of infant research for various aspects of psychoanalytic theory and believes that a careful reading of the infancy data will "lead to reexamination of our theory" (p. 27). While the reviewer thinks there is much that infant research can offer to inform psychoanalytic theory, more empirical data are clearly needed from this area as well as from clinical research in the psychoanalytic setting. Lichtenberg deserves our gratitude both for calling our attention to some of the most important research findings that have emerged to date and for directing us to consider the implications of these findings for psychoanalytic theory and practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)