Hidden Conversations: An Introduction to Communicative Psychoanalysis

by David Livingstone Smith

Hidden Conversations introduces Robert Langs radical reinterpretation of psychoanalysis by presenting and expanding his ideas in new and accessible ways. It is the first clear account of the theories underlying Langs approach, placing them within the context of the history of psychoanalysis and showing, for example, that Freud nearly discovered the communicative approach in the late 1890s, and that in the 1930s Ferenczi also anticipated the method.David Livingstone Smith illustrates this communicative approach with a wealth of practical detail and clinical examples, including verbatim accounts of communicative psychoanalytical sessions with a commentary on the unconscious processes underlying them.

285 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

David Livingstone Smith is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of New England in Biddeford, Maine. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of London, Kings College, where he worked on Freud's philosophy of mind and psychology. His current research is focused on dehumanization, race, propaganda, and related topics. David is the author of seven books and numerous academic papers. His most recent book Less Than Human: Why We Demean, Enslave and Exterminate Others (St. Martin's Press, 2011) was awarded the 2012 Anisfield-Wolf award for nonfiction. He is also editor of How Biology Shapes Philosophy (Cambridge University Press, 2016) , and he is working on a book entitled Making Monsters: The Uncanny Power of Dehumanization, which will be published by Harvard University Press.

David speaks widely in both academic and nonacademic settings, and his work has been featured extensively in national and international media. In 2012 he spoke at the G20 summit on dehumanization and mass violence. David strongly believes that the practice of philosophy has an important role to play helping us meet the challenges confronting humanity in the 21st century and beyond, and that philosophers should work towards making the world a better place.g

Reviews

[Toby Newton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Abrasive, unapologetic, and no-nonsense introduction to Langs’ approach to human-all-too-human psychotherapy, built on his sense that any healing relationship calls for humility and vulnerability on the part of analysts, as part of their acknowledgement of their own madness, plus a willingness to take heed of the wisdom of the deep unconscious mind of both participants.

I left with a much better and more sympathetic understanding of Langs’ interpretation of the importance of frame breaking.