Psychoanalysis: A Very Short Introduction

Very Short Introductions #435

by Daniel Pick

Since its inception, psychoanalysis has been hailed as a revolutionary theory of how the mind works, whilst some of its ideas such as the Oedipus complex have become part of everyday conversation. In A Very Short Introduction , Daniel Pick offers a lucid, lively, and wide-ranging survey of psychoanalysis. This book offers the reader a flavour of what it might be like to enter treatment, and suggests the possible surprises that can await both analyst and patient, as well as the potential benefits.

Yet whilst Freud's writings have shaped the way many of us understand dreams, desires, and destructiveness, as well as anxieties, blunders, and guilt, numerous critics have warned of the dangerous methods and time-bound assumptions of psychoanalysis, doubted the efficacy of its drawn-out methods, and dismissed its core claims as pseudo-science. Looking at modern ideas of the self, exploring the nature of unconscious aspects of relationships, and considering how psychoanalysis has evolved, Pick ponders the particular challenges now facing the analytic profession, and shows why psychoanalysis remains an important resource for investigating the mind, its creative functioning and many afflictions.

ABOUT THE
The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Psychoanalysis, Philosophy, Medicine, History

143 pages, Paperback

First published May 23, 2015

Reviews

[Benjamin Fasching-Gray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like other books in the excellent VSI series, this succeeds in giving a taste for the subject that invites further reading. Psychoanalysis, though, is a really big and strange field, and it is maybe impossible to give a satisfying overview in such a small volume. Plus, the author is at pains to defend psychoanalysis from its detractors, something you wouldn’t need to do if psychoanalysis was a religion. There is naturally a ton of Freud in here and I wish it had been possible to get more into what’s been going on in psychoanalysis in the hundred years (almost) since his most important insights. For me personally, I am still feeling extremely skeptical about psychoanalysis. It just still seems so mystifying when not outright mystical. At the same time, I am even more interested in the more political thinkers influenced by psychoanalysis, like Marcuse and Fromm, more interested in reading Freud’s cases like Dora, the Wolf Man and especially R. And I am more interested in the French cats like Lacan and Laplanche, Irigaray and Kristeva.

There was one bit in here I want to mention and that is the paragraph about Anti-Oedipus. So Delueze and Guattari are saying “the analysts are enacting the very thing they describe, ‘the remorseless law of the father.’” I read that and thought, “Yeah, that sounds right.” Then at the end of the paragraph, the hilarious response of these analysts: Delueze and Guattari are “enacting the infantile ‘revolt against the father.’” Oh brother! These Sophists deserve each other.

At the very end, the author compares psychoanalysis to Slow Food, and by extension, psychiatry and briefer forms of therapy like CBT to Big Macs. I dunno. Ask me in a year or so if my health insurance will still cover this weirdness... by then I should have enough personal experience to offer a more informed opinion.

[Lisa Verhelst · Rating 1 out of 5]

A disappointing book, even more because I've had good reading experiences with the VSI serie for being summarizing, still complete and based on wide scientific research.

This book is a biased and non structured overview of Freud's theory, a manifesto against everyone who is sceptical about dream analysis or other Freudian concept. I missed a clear definition of psychoanalysis as a theory or method. I missed the responses of other analysts, such as Jung. I missed an overview of the political, philosophical and sociological theories, influenced by Freud and others. And most of all, I missed a critical note on psychoanalysis. Knowing what we know today, we should be careful in taking phallic envy, Oedipus complex, ... as true.

So, in conclusion, not summarizing the main concepts, not complete and not based on objective and wide research.

[Charlotte de Lange · Rating 3 out of 5]

Als ik nog een keer het woord analytisch moet lezen na afgelopen tentamen week ga ik me ogen uit krabben.

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my second Very Short Introduction, and I found it better than the one on Nietzsche.

It covers the early days and development of Psychoanalysis moreso than cataloguing the present state of things and current debates, but it does a good job of providing introductions to the thought not just of Freud, but also successors such as Lacan, Klein, Winicott, and others.

I would have liked to see a little more on modern psychoanalysis and discourse around the field as a whole, and perhaps a little more diligence paid to its heterodox thinkers and critics, such as Reich, Laing, and Deleuze & Guattari.

Overall, however, it served as a good introduction and a worthwhile read.

[Electric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Großartige, eher essayistisch gehaltene Einführung in die Grundideen, die Praxis und auch so manche Kontroversen der Psychoanalyse. Ausgehend von Freud werden gerade im letzten Drittel des Buches auch andere zentrale Personen vorgestellt und es wird nicht zuletzt auf die politischen Aspekte der analytischen Theorie und Praxis eingegangen.

[Connor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't directed much attention to psychoanalysis for a bit over a year and this book was a great re-introduction to get thinking about it again. It's really one of the most objective and clear pieces of writing I've read on the topic, so I would especially recommend it to people who already have a skeptical view on psychoanalysis. It's evenhandedness will likely validate many of your concerns while still making a strong case for the usefulness and interest of some of psychoanalysis' key concepts.

[Marcos Zamith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Geralmete, gosto das introduções desta série de Oxford, mas achei esta bem very short mesmo. O livro traz informações sobre Freud, sua profissão. Explicam-se alguns conceitos da psicanálise, em nível nocional: id, ego, superego; livre associação de ideias; consciente, subconsciente, inconsciente; complexo de Édipo. Ainda num nível superficial, são apresentados psicanalistas freudianos (Lacan, Klein, Winnicott, Bion), divergências suas em relação a Freud e suas ênfases particulares.
Apesar da dificuldade de avaliar o livro por não dominar o assunto, acredito que essa introdução seria melhor ser tivesse mais conteúdo e as ideias fossem melhor organizadas.

[Mawr · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent, concise introduction to many of the pertinent aspects of psychoanalysis. It not only gives an overview of the main people in the movement's history (S. and A. Freud, Klein, Fairbairn, Winnicott, Bion, Bowlby, Fromm, Lacan, etc.), as well as their main ideas, it also gives one an idea of what clinical practice is like (length of therapy sessions, transference/counter-transference, confidentiality, etc.).

I highly recommend it for anyone either wanting to know the basics, or wanting to enlarge on what he or she already knows.

[Cameron Davis · Rating 2 out of 5]

This rating is a reflection of the author's poor writing, unsatisfying allocation of attention to different topics, and failure to ever explain how the analyst's and patient's explorations of things like transferences and dreams are supposed to help the patient, which is what I wanted to learn most from this book. Why did the author spend time telling me how psychoanalysis played a role in 20th century Latin American dictatorships but so gloss over topics like ego psychology and phantasies that I feel I don't even understand what they are?

[Marina Louise Schofer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overall a very well written short introduction with new insights and notes from personal experience as a therapist. I loved this quote; "Nonetheless, a practitioner who claimed never to have known intense, even mad, jealousy, excessive anxiety, phobias of one kind or another, omnipotent phantasies, envy, murderous thoughts, or melancholy, would be an improbably character and likely a poor analyst of others."

[alexander · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sufficiently profound to give an overview of the discipline through many lenses but might have benefitted from a more basic treatment at first, as it is the introduction moves quite quickly into technical details. Nonetheless I learnt quite a few new aspects of the philosophy and of the differing schools of thought.

[Hazel Rainfall · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was indeed very short, as the name suggests, and very concise. For the length the amount of information packed in is quite a lot. I would suggest further reading for anyone seriously interested in the subject though.

[Margarete Maneker · Rating 3 out of 5]

kind of embarrassed by how long this took me but i’ll have you know that i took lots of breaks!!

i want to get into lacan but i have little to no psychology or psychoanalytical context, so started here. a good introduction!

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brief, easy introduction to psychoanalytic theory, appropriately heavy on its origins and Freud, but also including other major figures and the state of the discipline today. Very readable.

[oskar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Best goede introductie tot het onderwerp, doch niet denderend. Ook jammer van de vele typfouten in de vertaling... desalniettemin een aanrader voor wie zich wil beginnen inlezen.

[Pieter De Wijngaert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Heel matig

[John Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Indeed a very short introduction. It was weighted a little more toward history than theory, but it was a very accessible overview of the topic.

[A. B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good, thorough introduction to the subject. Would have liked a bit more on Lacan, but ah well.

[Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book. I appreciate especially how the author gave a fair overview of the controversies and limitations of the profession.

[K. N. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book tells the story of the scientific discovery of therapy. The book is condensed; however, extremely well written. Daniel Pick is truly knowledgeable and adds value to psychology.

[Asfaria Islam Chowdhury · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book that covers the history of Freudian thoughts and the divergence into various schools of thoughts.

[Josh Manby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting prompt for more reading. Enjoyed discussion of other thinkers like Bion, Klein, and Lacan (and Zizek). Read in prep for a course on psychoanalysis and politics.

[Justin Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable read - books are perhaps the 'reading cure'

[spencer · Rating 5 out of 5]

great intro

[Shira]

Dit boek schetst slechts de top van de ijsberg als het gaat om wat psychoanlyse precies is, hoe het is ontstaan, meningsverschillen van vroeger en nu en wat de toegevoegde waarde van psychoanlyse zou kunnen zijn voor de huidige en toekomstige maatschappij. En dat is prima, als startpunt waardevol! Al is mijn doel vooral nog iets lezen van Freud en dat kan ook zonder dit boek - maar dat geeft niks.

Wat psychoanlyse zou kunnen betekenen voor de maatschappij, volgens Daniel Pick, onthoud ik graag:

"Toch kan de analyse een belangrijke bijdrage leveren aan het leren begrijpen waarom we ervoor kunnen kiezen om zelfs maar de mogelijkheid van het overdenken van een andere manier van leven uit de weg te gaan, dan wel de 'ongemakkelijke waaarheid' onder ogen te zien.
Laten we ermee volstaan dat het analytische gedachtegoed straks nog wel een rol kan gaan spelen bij urgente politieke debatten, en bij het uitdagen van wat individueel of collectief doorgaat voor de gegeven 'orde der dingen'. Zeker is dat de psychoanalyse een belangrijke tegenkracht kan zijn voor de gangbare aanname dat snelle oplossingen, op persoonlijk of politiek vlak, altijd het beste zijn." p. 165

[Rose Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Menurut Lacan, ego seperti "cermin". Ego terbentuk dari refleksi yang berkaitan dengan pandangan orang lain. Salah satu bukti nyata adalah pandanganibu. Contohnya, ketika kita merasa kacau, kemudian bercermin dan ibu berkata, "Kamu hebat!" Bisa jadi perasaan kacau tadi mereda dan semangatnya lagi.

Review selengkapnya di http://www.rosedianaa.com/2023/12/psi...

[blah blah III · Rating 2 out of 5]

Spends 95% of its time talking about the history of psychoanalysis and when it mentions psychoanalytic theories most of the time it completely brushes over them like you already know what they are in a book that literally in its title tells you that it is introducing them.

[Vikas Datta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enlightening