Brief Introduction to Psychoanalytic Theory

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).

• PART I: FREUDIAN THEORY The Appeal of PsychoanalysisA Family History of PsychoanalysisWhat Freud was Trying to DoThe Freudian UnconsciousSex, Aggression, Life and deathRepression and Other DefencesThe Structure of the Mind: Id, Ego, SuperegoOedipus, Masculinity, FemininityPsychopathology: What Makes Us Sad (and Mad)PART II: DEVELOPMENTS IN PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORYPsychoanalysts After FreudAttachment and MentalisationThe Principles of Object Relations TheoryMourning, Melancholia, Depression and LossThe Paranoid-Schizoid Position and Other ExtremesProjection and Projective IdentificationLacanian Psychoanalysis Interpretation and Transference Psychotherapeutic RelationshipsPART III: WIDER APPLICATIONS Psychoanalysis, Film and LiteraturePolitics and SocietyConclusionRecommended Reading

'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