Abstract

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.
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).

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