Self-Analysis is a fascinating reprise on the mode of disciplined self-inquiry that gave rise to psychoanalysis. From Freud's pioneering self-analytic efforts onward, self-analysis has been central to psychoanalytic training and psychoanalytic practice. Yet, only in recent years have analysts turned their attention to this wellspring of Freud's creation.
The contributors to Self-Analysis represent diverse theoretical perspectives, but they share a common appreciation of the importance of self-analysis to the analytic endeavor. Their papers encompass systematic inquiries into the capacity for self-analysis, examples of self-analysis as an aspect of clinical work, and personal reflections on the role of self-analysis in professional growth. Among the questions explored: What do we mean by self-analysis To what extent and under what conditions is self-analysis possible How does it differ from ordinary introspection What are the developmental antecedents of the capacity for self-analysis What is the role of the "other" in self-analysis What are the relationships among self-analysis, writing, and creativity
As Barron observes, the contributors to the book "grapple with the formidable ambiguities of self-analysis without either idealizing or devaluing its potential." What emerges from their effort is not only an illuminating window into the psychoanalyst's subjectivity as a fact of clinical life, but a far-reaching exemplification of the ways in which self-understanding is always a constitutive part of our understanding of others.
Self-Analysis is a fascinating examination of the mode of disciplined self-inquiry that gave rise to psychoanalysis. What emerges from the reflections of the contributors is not only an illuminating window into the psychoanalyst's subjectivity as
Self-Analysis is a fascinating reprise on the mode of disciplined self-inquiry that gave rise to psychoanalysis. From Freud's pioneering self-analytic efforts onward, self-analysis has been central to psychoanalytic training and psychoanalytic practice. Yet, only in recent years have analysts turned their attention to this wellspring of Freud's creation.
The contributors to Self-Analysis represent diverse theoretical perspectives, but they share a common appreciation of the importance of self-analysis to the analytic endeavor. Their papers encompass systematic inquiries into the capacity for self-analysis, examples of self-analysis as an aspect of clinical work, and personal reflections on the role of self-analysis in professional growth. Among the questions explored: What do we mean by self-analysis? To what extent and under what conditions is self-analysis possible? How does it differ from ordinary introspection? What are the developmental antecedents of the capacity for self-analysis? What is the role of the "other" in self-analysis? What are the relationships among self-analysis, writing, and creativity?
As Barron observes, the contributors to the book "grapple with the formidable ambiguities of self-analysis without either idealizing or devaluing its potential." What emerges from their effort is not only an illuminating window into the psychoanalyst's subjectivity as a fact of clinical life, but a far-reaching exemplification of the ways in which self-understanding is always a constitutive part of our understanding of others.
Mitchell, Foreword. Part I: Development of the Capacity for
Self-Analysis: Exploration of our "Personal Equations."Demos, Developmental
Foundations for the Capacity for Self-Analysis: Parallels in the Roles of
Caregiver and Analyst. Bernardi, Does Our Self-Analysis Take Into
Consideration Our Assumptions? Part II: Analytic Work and
Self-Analysis.Margulies, Contemplating the Mirror of the Other: Empathy and
Self-Analysis. McLaughlin, Work with Patients and the Experience of
Self-Analysis. Smith, Engagements in Analysis and Their Use in Self-Analysis.
Part III: Modes of Self-Analytic Activity.Wolf, Self-Analysis of a Taboo.
Gedo, On Fastball Pitching, Astronomical Clocks, and Self-Cognition. Gardner,
On Talking to Ourselves: Some Self-Analytical Reflections on Self-Analysis.
Part IV: The Role of the Other in Self-Analysis.Eifermann, The Discovery of
Real and Fantasized Audiences for Self-Analysis. Harris, Ragen, Mutual
Supervision, Countertransference, and Self-Analysis. Poland, Self and Other
in Self-Analysis. Part V: Self-Analysis, Writing, and Creativity.Sonnenberg,
To Write or Not to Write: A Note on Self-Analysis and the Resistance to
Self-Analysis. Anzieu, Beckett: Self-Analysis and Creativity. Lussier,
Freud's Self-Analysis.
A graduate and faculty member of the Psychoanalytic Institute of New England, East, James W. Barron, Ph.D., has broad interests in psychoanalytic education. Past president of the Division of Psychoanalysis of the APA, the Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis, and the International Federation for Psychoanalytic Education, Dr. Barron is editor of the Psychologist Psychoanalyst and coeditor of the volume Interface of Psychoanalysis and Psychology (1992). He maintains a private practice and is an Instructor in Psychology, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School.
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