Psychoanalytic Approaches to Forgiveness and Mental Health considers the role of forgiveness in mental life, concerning both forgiving and being forgiven. Each chapter addresses concepts including superego, repetition compulsion, enactment, and notions such as sacrifice, penance, justification, absolution, and contrition. The contributors consider both their professional and clinical experience and their ethical, cultural, or philosophical background when considering aspects of forgiveness and its impact on clinical practice. The book is an attempt to open the subject of forgiveness, not to reach ethical conclusions nor to formulate pious psychological behavioural axioms. It also considers the weight of feeling unforgiven and of holding the lifelong resentment or vengeful wishes of the unforgiving. Psychoanalytic Approaches to Forgiveness and Mental Health will be key reading for psychoanalysts and psychotherapists in practice and in training and for other professionals interested in the role of forgiveness in mental life. It will also be of interest to academics and students of psychoanalytic studies, philosophy and spirituality.
How can one overcome deeply-held resentment so as to resume or establish a bond with a traumatizing person, mindful that the experience of the self is rooted in the very intimate relationships from which such trauma arose? This book centres on the challenge of forgiveness and recovery from trauma in intimate relationships as viewed psychodynamically in the clinical context. Traumas inflicted by intimates, especially by parents, differ from transgressions and betrayals-however legitimately traumatizing-committed in less psychically-rooted relationships. While some betrayals are in fact not forgivable, what is at issue when parents or other intimates betray is the inevitable yearning for reunion: a wish whose potential fulfillment raises the spectre of re-traumatization and humiliation and is thus fraught with risk.
With contributions from Hermann Beland, Franco De Masi, Hans-Jurgen Eilts, Claudia Frank, With contributions from Hermann Beland, Irma Brenman Pick, Franco De Masi, Hans-Jurgen Eilts, Claudia Frank, Angela Goyena, Carolin Haas, Wolfgang Hegener, Angela Rosenfeld, John Steiner, Riccardo Steiner, Nils F. Topfer, Klaus Wilde, and Karin Johanna Zienert-Eilts. This collection presents new insights into the life and work of Herbert Rosenfeld and his continuing influence on psychoanalytic theory and practice. It includes accounts from both personal and professional perspectives and is illustrated with 55 black and white images. Part I looks at historical perspectives and includes Karin Johanna Zienert-Eilts' excellent biography of Rosenfeld, Angela Rosenfeld's personal view of her father, Ronald Britton's discussion of the distinction between "defensive" and "destructive" narcissism, and Claudia Frank's look at the iconic figures of Kleinian thought. Part II shines a light on Rosenfeld's extensive supervisory work with a highly personal account from Riccardo Steiner about experience in Italy, Klaus Wilde on Rosenfeld's significance for German psychoanalysts, and reminiscences and afterthoughts from Angela Goyena. In the descriptions of his clinical work in Part III, Franco De Masi, Hans-Jurgen Eilts, Carolin Haas, and Nils F. Topfer demonstrate how Rosenfeld's theoretical discoveries - especially his concept of destructive narcissism - and his related clinical and technical recommendations not only continue to facilitate psychoanalytic work with difficult patients today, but also made this work possible in the first place. The final part of the book examines the sociopolitical applications of Herbert Rosenfeld's concept of destructive narcissism. It begins with a significant paper from Herbert Rosenfeld: Applying my theory of psychosis to the Nazi phenomenon. This is followed by an interview of Rosenfeld by Hermann Beland and two chapters from the editors. Wolfgang Hegener examines how Herbert Rosenfeld can help us to understand Nazi perpetrators, with a particular focus on Adolf Eichmann, and Karin Johanna Zienert-Eilts takes the lens of destructive narcissism to destructive populism to cast new light on the phenomenon. Rounded out by a bibliography of Herbert Rosenfeld's most important writings, an extensive appendix of documents, photographs and three previously unpublished letters which are of historical significance, and prefaces from Irma Brenman Pick and John Steiner, this volume is a must-read for clinicians, academics, and trainees.
For psychologists and psychotherapists, the notion of forgiveness has been enjoying a substantial vogue. For their patients, it holds the promise of "moving on" and healing emotional wounds. The forgiveness of others - and of one's self - would seem to offer the kind of peace that psychotherapy alone has never been able to provide. In this volume, psychologist Sharon Lamb and philosopher Jeffrie Murphy argue that forgiveness has been accepted as a therapeutic strategy without serious, critical examination. They intend this volume to be a closer, critical look at some of these questions: why is forgiveness so popular now? What exactly does it entail? When might it be appropriate for a therapist not to advise forgiveness? When is forgiveness in fact harmful? Lamb and Murphy have collected many previously-unpublished chapters by both philosophers and psychologists that examine what is at stake for those who are injured, those who injure them, and society in general when such a practice becomes commonplace. Some chapters offer cautionary tales about forgiveness therapy, while others paint complex portraits of the social, cultural, and philosophical factors that come into play with forgiveness. The value of this volume lies not only in its presentation of a nuanced view of this therapeutic trend, but also as a general critique of psychotherapy, and as a valuable testimony of the theoretical and practical possibilities in an interdisciplinary collaboration between philosophy and clinical psychology.
This book presents a classic examination of transference phenomena and focuses on the development of psychoanalytic technique and theory. It addresses a perceived gap between psychoanalytic knowledge and its capacity to effect psychological transformation in a patient.
This book centres on the problem of psychosis, understood from a psychoanalytic perspective, as it manifests itself in different contexts and different levels of organisation: from the individual psychoanalytic session, through work with couples, groups and institutions and wider levels of social organisation. Beginning with a discussion of the psychoanalytic approach to psychosis centring on the work of Freud, Klein and the Post-Kleinians, it goes on to cover individual, couple and group therapy with psychotic patients. It draws on clinical material and theoretical discussion to explore the links between psychotic processes on different levels. This work is aimed at different professionals working within the psychodynamic frame of reference: individual psychotherapists, couple and family and group psychotherapists; organisational consultants and trainees in different therapies. As well as this it will be a useful resource to nurses, doctors and social workers who work with very disturbed patients and wish to learn about psychotic processes.
A collection of papers focusing on the Kleinian conception of the Oedipus complex, how this is now understood, and what effect it has had on clinical practice. The papers by the authors which form the greater part of The Oedipus Complex Today were originally given at the Melanie Klein Conference on the Oedipus Complex in September 1987 at University College, London. The conference, jointly organized by Professor J. Sandler of the Psychoanalysis Unit at University College and Mrs. Ruth Riesenberg-Malcolm on behalf of the Melanie Klein Trust, was considered such a successful statement of modern Kleinian views on the subject that the Trust has decided to present the papers in book form, together with an expanded version of the introduction by Dr Hanna Segal, and also a reprint of Melanie Klein's 1945 paper 'The Oedipus Complex in the Light of Early Anxieties'.The three papers, writes Dr Segal, 'are based on central concepts first put forward by Mrs Klein.
Long-Term Psychoanalytic Supervision with Donald Meltzer is a detailed account of a particularly demanding analysis which Donald Meltzer closely supervised over twelve years. This will enable the reader to closely follow the internal life of a long-term, trying analysis. The reader can see how Meltzer’s thoughts had crucially guided the course of this analysis in many of its most challenging moments, often redirecting it. By watching things happening, the reader is enabled to get a deeper insight into Meltzer's highly complex, though outstanding thought. On many particularly important points, the author invited Meltzer to give his thoughts and interpretations in his own words as if he himself was the analyst. This provides the reader with a unique opportunity to ‘listen’ to Meltzer verbatim. Long-Term Psychoanalytic Supervision with Donald Meltzer demonstrates the often overwhelming yet fascinating complexities of mental life and will speak to psychoanalysts and psychoanalytic psychotherapists, as well as those interested in the philosophy of the mind.
Psychoanalytic Approaches for Counselors explores Freud’s historical contributions to the theories within this school of thought and demonstrates their practical application in clinical practice today. Using the compelling framework of the common factors approach, the text helps readers consider how both the client's perspective and the interpersonal forces within a helping relationship can shape positive therapeutic outcomes. The text’s clinical vignettes, case examples, and discussion of significant updates within the field further highlight the relevance of the psychoanalytic approach to counseling. Psychoanalytic Approaches for Counselors is part of the SAGE Theories for Counselors Series that includes Cognitive Behavioral Approaches for Counselors, by Diane Shea, and Person-Centered Approaches for Counselors, by Jeffrey H.D. Cornelius-White. “Comprehensive in scope, this readable volume both demystifies traditional psychoanalytic theory and describes contemporary advances in analytic thought.” —Cecile Brennan, John Carroll University “Dr. Redekop has produced a rare specimen: a textbook by a university counseling professor that is useful for psychoanalysts and analysts-in-training.” —Frank Malone, Philadelphia School of Psychoanalysis “A highly readable, approachable, conversational invitation to the psychoanalytic tradition.” —Jerome Wagner, Loyola University, Chicago
Most health professionals would agree that time and funds are in short supply, even under optimal conditions. Patients, too, would admit similar shortfalls, even with optimal motivation. This book offers self-administered and easily administered interventions designed to promote positive health behaviors while requiring little or no outside funding. Editor Luciano L’Abate continues his long tradition of prolific innovations by identifying major changes in today’s health care systems and explaining how targeted, prescriptive promotion/prevention strategies can enhance traditional primary, secondary, and tertiary interventions in key behavioral and relational areas.
