A Brief Introduction to Psychoanalytic Theory

by Stephen Frosh

Overview

Psychoanalytic theory remains hugely influential to our understanding of the mind and human behaviour. It provides a rich source of ideas for therapeutic practice, while offering dramatic insights for the study of culture and society. This comprehensive review of the field:
- Explores the birth of psychoanalysis, taking the reader step by step through Freud's original ideas and how they developed and evolved
- Provides a clear account of fundamental psychoanalytic concepts
- Discusses the different schools of psychoanalysis that have emerged since Freud
- Illustrates the wider applications of psychoanalytic ideas across film, literature and politics

Written by a highly respected authority on psychoanalysis, this book is essential reading for trainees in counselling and psychotherapy, as well as for students across the arts, humanities and social sciences.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781350305908
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	05/30/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	456 KB

About the Author

STEPHEN FROSH Pro-Vice-Master and Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychosocial Studies at Birkbeck College, University of London, UK. He is the author of many books and papers on psychosocial studies and on psychoanalysis, including Hate and the 'Jewish Science': Anti-Semitism, Nazism and Psychoanalysis (Palgrave, 2005), For and Against Psychoanalysis (Routledge, 2006), After Words (Palgrave, 2002) and The Politics of Psychoanalysis (Palgrave, 1999). His most recent books are Psychoanalysis Outside the Clinic (Palgrave, 2010) and Feelings (Routledge, 2011).
Stephen Frosh has recently retired as Professor in the Department of Psychosocial Studies at Birkbeck, University of London, UK. He was a Visiting Professor at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa, and at the University of São Paulo, Brazil. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, an Academic Associate of the British Psychoanalytical Society, a Founding Member of the Association of Psychosocial Studies, and an Honorary Member of the Institute of Group Analysis. He is the author of over 20 books on psychosocial studies and psychoanalysis, including A Brief Introduction to Psychoanalytic Theory; Psychoanalysis Outside the Clinic; The Politics of Psychoanalysis; Hate and the Jewish Science: Anti-Semitism, Nazism and Psychoanalysis; Hauntings; Those Who Come After: Postmemory, Acknowledgement and Forgiveness and most recently, Antisemitism and Racism: Ethical Challenges for Psychoanalysis, published by Bloomsbury in 2023. He is co-editor of the Palgrave Handbook of Psychosocial Studies and the Routledge International Handbook of Psychoanalysis and Jewish Studies.

Table of Contents

PART I: FREUDIAN THEORY
The Appeal of Psychoanalysis
A Family History of Psychoanalysis
What Freud was Trying to Do
The Freudian Unconscious
Sex, Aggression, Life and death
Repression and Other Defences
The Structure of the Mind: Id, Ego, Superego
Oedipus, Masculinity, Femininity
Psychopathology: What Makes Us Sad (and Mad)
PART II: DEVELOPMENTS IN PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY
Psychoanalysts After Freud
Attachment and Mentalisation
The Principles of Object Relations Theory
Mourning, Melancholia, Depression and Loss
The Paranoid-Schizoid Position and Other Extremes
Projection and Projective Identification
Lacanian Psychoanalysis 
Interpretation and Transference 
Psychotherapeutic Relationships
PART III: WIDER APPLICATIONS
Psychoanalysis, Film and Literature
Politics and Society
Conclusion
Recommended Reading

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

This most impressive book should be welcomed not only by all coming new to the detailed study of psychoanalysis but also by experienced clinicians and trainees from many psychotherapeutic approaches. Frosh, in just over 200 pages, covers a vast topic clearly and accessibly, drawing on a deep and wide-ranging scholarship.' - Therapy Today

'Extremely accessible and stunningly erudite. Frosh has an uncanny capacity to pick out the most important contributions in the history of psychoanalysis.' - Professor Peter Fonagy, Freud Memorial Professor of Psychoanalysis, University College London, UK

'An extraordinary book that more than lives up to its billing. It is set to become the standard textbook for the wide-ranging courses in psychoanalytic theory that are now taught throughout the Anglophone world.' - Sander Gilman, Professor of Psychiatry, Emory University, US

'So much has been written about psychoanalysis, it is difficult to produce something new, fresh and engaging - but Stephen Frosh has done just that.' - Judith Fewell, Honorary Fellow, Counselling and Psychotherapy, Edinburgh University, UK

'A highly readable introduction to a complex subject that will be of interest to all students of psychology and trainees in the 'talking therapies'. Frosh interrogates psychoanalysis with authority, offering not only the basics of the subject but a mature understanding based on years of experience.' - Ivan Ward, Deputy Director and Head of Learning, Freud Museum, UK

Editorial Reviews

"Extremely accessible and stunningly erudite. Frosh has an uncanny capacity to pick out the most important contributions in the history of psychoanalysis." - Professor Peter Fonagy, Freud Memorial Professor of Psychoanalysis, University College London, UK
'An extraordinary book that more than lives up to its billing. It is set to become the standard textbook for the wide-ranging courses in psychoanalytic theory that are now taught throughout the Anglophone world." - Sander Gilman, Professor of Psychiatry, Emory University, US
"So much has been written about psychoanalysis, it is difficult to produce something new, fresh and engaging - but Stephen Frosh has done just that." - Judith Fewell, Honorary Fellow, Counselling and Psychotherapy, Edinburgh University, UK

From the Publisher