The Electrified Mind explores the positive and negative aspects of the internet and other communication technologies on the people who use them in order to help mental health care professionals understand, empathize with, and treat patients who rely on technology for socializing and expressing themselves.

In this elegantly written book, eight distinguished psychoanalysts address the ubiquitous phenomenon of guilt. They describe the childhood experiences that form the bedrock of this emotion and delineate various types of guilt, including pre-oedipal guilt, oedipal guilt, survivor guilt, separation guilt, induced guilt, and so on. Noting that guilt, by itself, is neither 'good' nor 'bad, ' these master clinicians highlight the adverse (e.g. self-punishment, masochism, irritability) and potentially positive (e.g. reparation, helpfulness towards others) outcomes of guilt. They critically assess...

Joseph Breuer's celebrated patient, Anna O., designated psychoanalysis to be a -talking cure-. She was correct insofar as psychoanalysis does place verbal exchange at the center stage. However, this focus upon the patient's and therapist's speaking activities diverts attention from how the two parties listen to each other. Psychoanalysis is a listening and a talking cure. Both elements are integral to clinical work. Listening with no talking can only go so far. Talking without listening can mislead and harm. And yet, the listening end of the equation has received short shrift in...

Betrayal underlies all psychic trauma, whether sexual abuse or profound neglect, violence or treachery, extramarital affair or embezzlement. When we betray others, we violate their confidence in us. When others betray us, they pierce the veil of our innocent reliance. Betraying and feeling betrayed are ubiquitous to the scenarios of trauma and yet surprisingly neglected as a topic of specific attention by psychoanalysis.

This book fills this gap. Its first part deals with developmental aspects and notes that while the experience of betrayal might be ubiquitous in childhood, its...

If there ever was one word that could represent the essence of Freud's work, that word would be unconscious. Indeed, Freud himself regarded his 1915 paper -The Unconscious- as central to clarifying the fundamentals of his metapsychology. The paper delineates the topographic model of the mind and spells out the concepts of primary and secondary process thinking, thing and word presentations, timelessness of the unconscious, condensation and symbolism, unconscious problem solving, and the relationship between the system Ucs and repression. Examining these proposals in the light of...

Beginning with Freud's celebrated case of Little Hans, psychoanalysts and psychotherapists have been intrigued with the topic of fear. Eclipsed in theoretical writings by the term -anxiety-, fear remains a pervasive expression in day-to-day clinical work. Patients constantly talk about it. One implores that we cure him of his fear of dogs. Another offers the fear of aloneness as the rationale of her staying in a bad marriage. Yet another avoids all athletic activity due to the fear of physical injury. And a fourth one lives in utter denial of passing time to avoid facing his fear of death.

Beginning with Freud's celebrated case of Little Hans, psychoanalysts and psychotherapists have been intrigued with the topic of fear. Eclipsed in the...

In this book, North American psychiatrists explore the psychic bond between humans and animals and its importance in the normal development of the human mind, animals in human dreams, transformations of humans to animals in literature, animals generally in adult and children's literature and art, animals in religion, and how animals relate to immigration and national identity.

The editors and contributors examine research regarding the ways the relationships of people and animals are reflected in human psychopathology. They describe how animals figure in psychiatric symptoms, and how people project their concerns onto animals or describe an aspect of their thinking in terms of animals and their behaviors. They continue by examining case studies of patients and pathologies with connections to animals, such as the horses of Little Hans and the image of the Wolfman, and presenting research in how dogs, birds, snakes, spiders, and cats figure in both diagnosis and...

This concise and well-written book deals with six important roots of human anguish. It divides the six areas into those primarily affecting the individual and those primarily affecting others around him. Among the former are fear, greed, and guilt. Among the latter are deception, betrayal, and revenge. The book deals with each realm from descriptive, psychodynamic, sociocultural, and clinical perspectives. It provides ample literary examples and vignettes from psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. The aim is to help the readers enhance their empathy with these complex human experiences and to...

In this compact and pithy book, the distinguished and prolific psychoanalyst Salman Akhtar steps out of his consulting room to address certain matters of urgent global concern. These include migration across national borders, the current refugee crisis, ethno-racial prejudice, subjective distress of minorities, and, above all, the forever-present ominous shadow of terrorism. Akhtar evolves and advocates a uniquely 'anthropological psychoanalysis' which is a blend of depth psychology and humanities, including sociology, economics, political science, history, and , of course, anthropology. He...