The Suffering Stranger: Hermeneutics for Everyday Clinical Practice

by Donna M. Orange

Winner of the 2012 Gradiva Award! Utilizing the hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer and the ethics of Emmanuel Lévinas, The Suffering Stranger invigorates the conversation between psychoanalysis and philosophy, demonstrating how each is informed by the other and how both are strengthened in unison. Orange turns her critical (and clinical) eye toward five major psychoanalytic thinkers – Sándor Ferenczi, Frieda Fromm-Reichmann, D. W. Winnicott, Heinz Kohut, and Bernard Brandchaft – investigating the hermeneutic approach of each and engaging these innovative thinkers precisely as interpreters, as those who have seen the face and heard the voice of the other in an ethical manner. In doing so, she provides the practicing clinician with insight into the methodology of interpretation that underpins the day-to-day activity of analysis, and broadens the scope of possibility for philosophical extensions of psychoanalytic theory.

Genres: Psychoanalysis, Psychology

268 pages, Paperback

First published April 21, 2011

About the author

Donna M. Orange, Ph.D., Psy.D., holds two doctorates: one in Philosophy from Fordham University and the other in Clinical Psychology from Yeshiva University. A faculty member of the Institute for the Psychoanalytic Study of Subjectivity and a supervisor at the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology at Rutgers University, she maintains a private practice in New Jersey.

Reviews

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This wonderful, wonderful book is so wise and beautiful. Donna Orange is a philosopher, psychoanalyst, teacher, writer. Hermeneutics is about the interpretation of texts, but this brilliant thinker/feeler brings it to life through the concept of interpreting interactions and most importantly, understanding each other. Quoting Friedrich Schliermacher, 18th/19th century Romantic Hermeneut - "Understanding, whether of texts or of people, is hard work and always a work in progress. Because every child learns a language, and because so much of daily life passes without our noticing misunderstandings...misunderstanding occurs as a matter of course, and so understanding must be willed and sought at every point." This profound and empathic stance has deeply inspired me. I'm working on applying it directly in my life; a lifelong effort no doubt.

[Hannah Stokes]

I love this book and can't believe it's taken me so long to read it. Orange really captures the way in which I practice and does a thorough job backing up the Hermeneutics of Trust with philosophy. There's so many references in her list that I can't wait to read.

[Alix Jurado · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it, but I think Donna had favorite psychoanalysts, the difference is marked. I think some of the things she mentioned are from her point of view and not what exactly happened or exactly what the original author said. But it is a good book.