The Cure for Psychoanalysis

by Adam Phillips

This book contains two brilliant essays by one of the foremost thinkers in the field of psychoanalysis. In the first essay, ‘The Magic of Winnicott,’ Adam Phillips makes clear the subtlety and wisdom of Winnicott’s concept of play. In ‘The Cure for Psychoanalysis’ he works through psychoanalytic theories about cure and instructs us to take most seriously those that free the analyst and patient to wonder and to take pleasure in the unknowable adventure ahead of them. These two thought-provoking writings frame a discussion between the author and Edward Corrigan, analyst and friend, which offers an intimate portrait of two analysts in conversation, thoughtfully reflecting on traditions that inform Phillips’ practice and prolific works. This record of ‘A Day with Adam Phillips’ at the Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis in New York includes questions and commentaries which demonstrate the creative and open expression encouraged by and reflected in the practice of psychoanalysis itself. 

Genres: Psychoanalysis, Psychology, Nonfiction

242 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2021

About the author

Adam Phillips is a British psychotherapist and essayist.

Since 2003 he has been the general editor of the new Penguin Modern Classics translations of Sigmund Freud. He is also a regular contributor to the London Review of Books.

Phillips was born in Cardiff, Wales in 1954, the child of second-generation Polish Jews. He grew up as part of an extended family of aunts, uncles and cousins and describes his parents as "very consciously Jewish but not believing". As a child, his first interest was the study of tropical birds and it was not until adolescence that he developed an interest in literature. He went on to study English at St John's College, Oxford, graduating with a third class degree. His defining influences are literary – he was inspired to become a psychoanalyst after reading Carl Jung's autobiography and he has always believed psychoanalysis to be closer to poetry than medicine.

Adapted from Wikipedia.

Phillips is a regular contributor to the London Review of Books. He has been described by The Times as "the Martin Amis of British psychoanalysis" for his "brilliantly amusing and often profoundly unsettling" work; and by John Banville as "one of the finest prose stylists in the language, an Emerson of our time."

Reviews

[Aaron Ambrose · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this in one day, in airports and airplanes. If you're familiar with Phillips' writing from the last 10 years, none of this will come as a huge surprise. I'm oversimplifying here, but I see these essays as refinements of his exploration of pleasure and open-endedness - essentially, how do we reach a place where we're comfortable with enjoying our lives and our loves? Also included here are Q&As with Phillips - which show his generous mind at work - and "reflections" from attendees - which are pointless and/or annoying.

[Paul Johnston · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent and inspiring book and I may try to write a proper review of it later. Its main focus is encouraging a radical question of our preconceptions, our belief that we know things. This questionning is extended to the psychoanalysis itself and to analysts. So psychoanalysis is not about providing a cure (who is to say what a cure or that it is better to be cured than not cured?) it is an adventure that only really works if both analyst and patient are prepared to discount what they think they know.

[Ajp · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a bit of a hodge-podge. It contains the transcripts of two conference Q & As, an interview with Phillips, and a dozen response papers. It is also bookended by two papers by Phillips himself. A reader interested in Phillips’ psychoanalytic writings would be better served by the earlier collection, “One Way and Another.” Having said that, “Cure for Psychoanalysis” achieves something rather remarkable: it demonstrates how psychoanalysis works as a collaborative effort between two people — or, in a conference setting, between 200 people, by taking up ideas in Phillips’ introductory essay, watching them circulate through the interview, audience queries, and student/teacher reactions, before being reconsidered by Phillips again in his concluding paper. (Specifically: If psychoanalysis is a form of play between the therapist and the patient, then what does it mean to be cured? Surely analysis doesn’t cure someone OF play? Rather, being cured must mean learning to play more, play differently, play better…)