From the Clinic to the Streets: Psychoanalysis for Revolutionary Futures

by Lara Sheehi

Psychoanalysis is having a resurgence in popularity—but it is not helping patients navigate the harm of modern-day capitalism. Instead, it continues to enforce oppressive structures, state power, and reactionary politics.



Practising psychoanalytic clinician Lara Sheehi creates a thrilling argument for how seizing the means of psychoanalysis can transform it into one of many tools in service of revolution, showing how psychoanalysis can help unpack how psychological and emotional processes are mobilized by political power, capitalism, the state, oppression, and even genocide.



Arguing for a new, liberatory psychoanalysis, she calls for us to harness its radical power from the clinic to the streets.

Genres: Politics, Psychoanalysis, Psychology, Theory, Nonfiction, Social Justice, Philosophy

192 pages, Paperback

Published May 20, 2026

Reviews

[mango]

Just came across this Lebo queen when I stumbled upon the Guardian article re the war in psychoanalysis.
Sad I was slightly offline around that time, otherwise I would've defended her!
If I ever return to my psychoanalysis era, I’m starting with a book by an anti-colonial hottie.

Free Palestine!!!

[Isidora Stanković · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had been waiting for this book for over a year, ever since I first heard Lara was writing it. Look, I expected it to be brilliant, I had read Psychoanalysis Under Occupation and many of her papers and already knew Sheehi was an extraordinary thinker. Still, this book surpassed even those expectations.

It is an important, deeply thoughtful work, written with both intellectual rigor and emotional force. More than that, it is one of those rare books that does not simply inform you, it works on you. It lingers, sears itself into your psyche, and continues unfolding long after you have finished reading.

I am really grateful for it. The book gave me language for experiences I have struggled to articulate, and in doing so, helped me develop new translations.

[Meag · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lara Sheehi explores the western uses of psychology as a tool to deter revolutionary movements from Palestine to Nuestra América and “how mental health more broadly, and psychoanalysis specifically, has been used historically to oppress marginalized, racialized, gendered, and colonized populations. To the contrary, it is no secret that the psy-disciplines more broadly have diligently worked in service of policing people’s psyches and bodies…At the time of writing, the profession of psychoanalysis not only has a sordid past, but also an equally terrifying present that includes working to shore up fascistic creep in the form of mainstreaming Zionist violence…aiding in the articulation and implementation of anti-trans legislation.” How “research in the behavioral and social sciences relevant to counterinsurgency and special warfare.” This book centers on the work of countless revolutionary minds such as Fanon, Walid Dawqa, Mumia Abu Jamal, Assata Shakur, Malcolm X, and through their research and expertise in the clinical field Sheehi explores how “violent systems impress on our psyches, insisting not on being felt, but on becoming normative fixtures within the topography of our internal worlds.” They correctly state “the province of our psyche is being targeted to accelerate political demobilization.” They offer advice on how to be psychically militant and advices how “we must act strategically and become versed in the affective and psychic dimensions of our struggle, otherwise it becomes a major weakness that can not but be exploited.” Just as the author reminds us, with purposeful repetition, the powerful words of Malcolm X, “the conditions that our people suffer are extreme and an extreme illness cannot be cursed with moderate medicine.” Sheehi’s work will undoubtedly resonate with others especially those who ask themselves, as the author did, “the work of psychic militancy is to instead retain access to the unbending precondition, what if instead no one, none of us, sided with colonialism?”

[martyn benny · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the Clinic to the Streets is a bold, intellectually rigorous, and thought-provoking work that challenges readers to rethink both psychoanalysis and its place within contemporary society. Lara Sheehi presents a compelling argument that psychology and mental health cannot be separated from the political, economic, and social systems in which people live.

One of the book's greatest strengths is its willingness to question long-established assumptions. Rather than treating psychoanalysis as a neutral clinical practice, Sheehi examines how psychological theory can both reinforce and challenge structures of power. Whether readers ultimately agree with every conclusion or not, the book invites serious reflection about the relationship between individual suffering and broader systems of inequality.

I particularly appreciated the interdisciplinary nature of the work. By bringing together psychoanalysis, politics, philosophy, social justice, and critical theory, Sheehi creates a framework that encourages readers to consider emotional life alongside historical and material realities. The result is an engaging exploration of how personal and collective experiences continuously shape one another.

The writing is ambitious yet purposeful, encouraging readers to think beyond traditional therapeutic models toward broader questions of liberation, solidarity, and social transformation. Rather than offering simple answers, the book asks challenging questions that remain with the reader long after the final chapter.

Whether you're a psychoanalyst, therapist, psychology student, academic, activist, or simply interested in the intersection of mental health and political thought, From the Clinic to the Streets offers a stimulating perspective that contributes meaningfully to contemporary conversations about psychology and society.

An important and provocative contribution that expands the conversation about what psychoanalysis can become in the modern world.