{"title":"CULTURAL HISTORY OF PSYCHOANALYSIS IN THE AGE OF NEUROSCIENCE.","authors":"Francisco Balbuena Rivera","doi":"10.1057/s11231-023-09394-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1057/s11231-023-09394-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In this paper I have chosen the topic of psychoanalysis in the age of neuroscience, with the aim of showing why the cultural history of psychoanalysis still matters. To make myself better understood I shall refrain from evaluating the current findings in neuroscience and limit myself to reporting briefly on them. Although I do not regard myself by any means as an expert in that field, I may be permitted to offer a few ideas about it. In this regard, there is presently a significant predominance of biological ideologies and practices regarding the treatment of mental illness, which implies an increase in the interest in etiology, nosology, definitions, and the effectivity of treatments. Even so, those psychoanalytic historians and/or analysts among us who are committed to psychoanalysis and its therapeutic implications, irrespective of what drugs might be prescribed and what the research findings might conclude, believe that patients still want to be listened to in depth and always will. For that reason, it is justified to ask why the cultural history of psychoanalysis still matters in a contemporary mental health environment that is ever more oriented towards the neurosciences.</p>","PeriodicalId":52458,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Psychoanalysis","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9262477","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Psychoanalytic Credos: Personal and Professional Journeys of Psychoanalysts, edited by Jill Salberg, Routledge, Abingdon and New York, 2022, 252 pp.","authors":"Joan Sarnat","doi":"10.1057/s11231-022-09388-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1057/s11231-022-09388-1","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":52458,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Psychoanalysis","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9263237","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Resilience and Survival: Understanding and Healing Intergenerational Trauma, by Clara Mucci, Confer Books, London, 2022, 212 pages.","authors":"Carlo Bonomi","doi":"10.1057/s11231-022-09385-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1057/s11231-022-09385-4","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":52458,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Psychoanalysis","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9631689","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Some Arguments About Free Association as a Technique.","authors":"Jerome S Blackman","doi":"10.1057/s11231-023-09393-y","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1057/s11231-023-09393-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Freud, early in psychoanalytic history, modified hypnotic technique and recommended, in its stead, free association. This paper takes a close look at the theoretical foundations of that technique in light of theoretical developments over the past hundred plus years. It is argued that free association is similar to an asymptote, which is never quite reached. Moreover, it is argued that the direction to free associate is contraindicated in many, if not most, psychological disturbances. Guided association or avoidance of free association is sometimes required. For a limited group of patients, whose major ego functions (abstraction, integration, and reality testing), ego strengths (impulse control, affect tolerance, and containing primary process), object relations (capacities for empathy, trust, and closeness), and superego (shame/guilt) are intact, the direction to use the couch and attempt to free associate may still be quite useful. For most people who present for treatment, however, this approach is likely not beneficial. The complex arguments about the decision-making process regarding free association are discussed.</p>","PeriodicalId":52458,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Psychoanalysis","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9262478","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Analyst's Courage and Vulnerability in the Countertransference.","authors":"Melinda Blitzer","doi":"10.1057/s11231-023-09392-z","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1057/s11231-023-09392-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Courage requires us to persist and persevere despite fear. We make choices everyday-some are courageous, and some are not courageous at all. This dimension of psychoanalytic work is significant, yet relatively neglected in the psychoanalytic literature. Maintaining a courageous stance as an analyst can be challenging and threatening. Often, the therapist faces deeply rooted fears about abandonment, envy, competition, anger, or other forms of intense emotional arousal. This requires us to confront ourselves but also, at times, confront our patient's behaviors. It is crucial to think and act independently, and deal with their disapproval and opposition, despite the risks challenging patients present. Ultimately, we need to manage our vulnerable feelings while remaining authentic, rather than hiding behind an overly clinical stance. The author presents two patients who required and inspired the courage to face her own anxieties, ultimately contributing to the treatments' progress.</p>","PeriodicalId":52458,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Psychoanalysis","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9263272","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Radical Revenge: Shame, Blame and the Urge for Retaliation, by Renée Danziger, Free Association Books, London, 2021, 153 pp.","authors":"Henry J Friedman","doi":"10.1057/s11231-022-09386-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1057/s11231-022-09386-3","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":52458,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Psychoanalysis","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9631688","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Bion and Primitive Mental States: Trauma and the Symbiotic Link by Judy K. Eekhoff, Routledge, Abingdon and New York, 2022, 137 pp.","authors":"David P Jachim","doi":"10.1057/s11231-022-09380-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1057/s11231-022-09380-9","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":52458,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Psychoanalysis","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10487002","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Sándor Ferenczi: A Contemporary Introduction, by Alberto Fergusson and Miguel Gutiérrez-Peláez, Routledge, Abingdon and New York, 2022, 125 pp.","authors":"Annie Reiner","doi":"10.1057/s11231-022-09382-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1057/s11231-022-09382-7","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":52458,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Psychoanalysis","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10845854","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Women in the Budapest School of Psychoanalysis: Girls of Tomorrow,, by Anna Borgos, Routledge, Abingdon and New York, 2021, 202 pp.","authors":"Endre Koritar","doi":"10.1057/s11231-022-09381-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1057/s11231-022-09381-8","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":52458,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Psychoanalysis","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10493707","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Relational Revolution in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy, by Steven Kuchuck, Confer Books, London, 2021, 207 pp.","authors":"Howard H Covitz","doi":"10.1057/s11231-022-09378-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1057/s11231-022-09378-3","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":52458,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Psychoanalysis","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10500060","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}