Psychoanalysis is no stranger to evolution, but even for a field as accustomed to transformation as it is, the last several years have seen a profound shift in its practice—not least because of COVID-19 and social and cultural factors.
Whether those changes are permanent remains to be seen, but this third edition of the Textbook of Psychoanalysis addresses them head-on. Its first section includes not only how the pandemic has affected psychoanalysis but also how racial and ethnic tensions, redefined gender and sexual identities, and the effects of climate change have affected both the psychoanalyst and the patient, as well as the relationship between the two.
In subsequent sections, more than 40 contributors bring their expertise to bear as they discuss
• Diverse schools of thought, including object relations theory, self psychology, interpersonal psychoanalysis, and contemporary field theory• Core concepts, such as the role of the unconscious in psychoanalytic discourse; transference, countertransference, and enactment; and contemporary theories of unrepresented states• Techniques and approaches that include child analysis, the integration of psychoanalysis and pharmacotherapy, and the place of ethics in psychoanalysis• Research, including psychoanalytic process research, developmental research, and neuroscience research
This volume's editors, in the Introduction, confess that "none of us can predict the outcome" of the changes that psychoanalysis—and, indeed, society—is facing. But, as another contributor later points out, "psychoanalysis is a profession centrally concerned with what is not known" and, therefore, may have a critical role to play in uncertain, extraordinary times.
With this new edition of the Textbook of Psychoanalysis, readers will have a firm foundation in psychoanalytic thought and practice from which to tackle today's—and tomorrow's—myriad unknowns.
