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For and Against Psychoanalysis

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Psychoanalysis has always been a source of controversy throughout academic and popular culture. This controversy relates to questions of its true value, its scientific status, its politics and its therapeutic effectiveness. Psychoanalysis' defenders regard it as a body of knowledge built on careful and painstaking exploration of complex clinical encounters, offering more detailed and valid insights than can be obtained from other sources. Psychoanalysis is also a building block for considerations of human subjectivity in a wide range of academic disciplines and practical areas of work, from social theory to feminist studies, to counselling and psychotherapy. In this thoroughly revised and updated second edition of For and Against Psychoanalysis , Stephen Frosh examines the arguments surrounding psychoanalysis at some key its standing as a scientific theory, its value as a method of therapy, its potency as a contributor to debates around identity construction, gender, homosexuality and racism. At each of these points, there is something to be said 'for and against' psychoanalysis, with the balance depending on whether it deepens our understanding of human functioning, whether it is consistent with its own perceptions and theories or seems subservient to social pressures and norms, and whether it is coherent or muddled, evocative or sterile. For and Against Psychoanalysis provides an accessible introduction and critical guide to the current standing of psychoanalysis. It is essential reading for students of psychoanalysis, counselling, psychotherapy and psychology, and for social researchers and social theorists, as well as for those who are simply interested in what place psychoanalysis has in the modern world.

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First published September 11, 1997

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About the author

Stephen Frosh

40 books19 followers
Stephen Frosh has worked at Birkbeck from 1979, first in the School of Psychology and since 2008 in the Department of Psychosocial Studies, of which he was a founding member and first Head of Department. From 1982 until 2000 he worked part time at Birkbeck and part time as a clinical psychologist in the NHS. Throughout the 1990s he was Consultant Clinical Psychologist and (from 1996) Vice Dean in the Child and Family Department of the Tavistock Clinic, London. His academic interests are in the applications of psychoanalysis to social issues; gender, culture and ‘race’; and psychosocial studies. He was Pro-Vice-Master of Birkbeck from 2003 to 2017, first with responsibility for Learning and Teaching, then for Research and then for Internationalisation

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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
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Author 2 books10 followers
March 3, 2022
I applaud it to the extent that the project is about summarizing the existing scholarly work on the significance and usefulness of psychoanalysis. The tone is typical of modern professional academic work in the humanities, which is to say it is likely to feel like a chore for all general interest readers (even sophisticated ones). It does provide meaningful answers to common questions about the utility (if any) of psychoanalysis. But it also leaves you feeling like this whole endeavor is really putting the cart before the horse -- so many theorists, so many theories, so much intricacy, such far-reaching claims, all arising from a methodology that is fatally flawed due to its elevation of plausibility/coherence of theory over verifiability. I was left with the belief that this entire endeavor is worthless unless/until it can reset and proceed from a more sound footing.
1 review
April 1, 2022
Certainly thought provoking, perhaps ultimately timid

One cannot question the erudition, richness of exploration and many avenues offered for further reading offered here and, for that, I nearly gave it 5 stars. However, it's hard to avoid the feeling (for me at least) that the pros were overwhelming outweighed by the cons yet the author perched uncomfortably on the fence in a too predictable fashion. Not shy of pointing out the issues, the shocking homophobia for instance (eg. homosexuals not being allowed to become psychoanalysts for an extraordinarily long time) it all ultimately felt like a weak, if fascinating, debate whose lack of outcome was inevitable. Perhaps a more accurate title would have been "a critical assessment of psychoanalysis" . Nonetheless, a great read.
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