Hope and Dread in Psychoanalysis

by Stephen A. Mitchell

The love affair that psychoanalysis has had with its own founder has obscured just how different the field is today from what it was a century ago, when Freud was writing. Now Stephen A. Mitchell, a central figure in the modernization of psychoanlalysis, shows how the field is moving beyond the confines of Freudian drive theory to encompass the concerns of contemporary life.

Genres: Psychology, Psychoanalysis, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Social Work

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Celine Prell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book delves into discourse on the meaning and vision of psychoanalysis as well as the contemporary shift that transformed psychoanalytic theory from seeking singular “truths” in freud’s day to helping to find personal meaning in the contemporary era. The book categorizes itself into three chapters, each focusing on one aspect of this discussion: first, it asks the question “ what does the patient need?” to examine the development of psychoanalytic ideas on the level of critical theory, then it asks, “what does the analyst know?” to examine psychoanalysis on a metatheoretical level, and finally it merges these two discourses into one to summarize the broad changes in culture and intellectual sensibility from Freud's day to ours.

Notable Quotes:
-“ "God," As Nietzche put it, "is dead" and the demise of religion as a reliable, credible perspective brought humankind face to face with the problem of nihilism, the depletion of meaning.”
...Only a couple of decades ago it was easy to contrast the religious worldview, bracing and enshrining the mysterious and the unknown, with the scientific worldview, illuminating dark.”
-“The patient's most fundamental difficulties concern the overall quality and texture of experience…The focus is no longer on just the wish that is gratified or repressed, but on the self that is affected by the other’s denial or fulfillment of that wish.”
-“The exploration and construction of a personal history with another person is a powerful, transformative intrapersonal experience. Without memory, there is no self. Meaning is personal experience composed into narratives. However, the narratives brought forth by the patient are generally stereotypes and closed. A central part of what the analyst adds is imagination, a facility with reorganizing and reframing, a capacity to envision different endings, and different futures. If the storylines suggested by the analyst himself are rigid and stereotypes, the analytic process degenerates into sterility and conversion.”
-“Knowledge in our day is considered pluralistic, not singular; contextual, not absolute; constructed, not uncovered; challenging and dynamic, not static and eternal.”
-“All of us regard our own theory as most balanced, because we each stand at the center of our own (conceptual) world, with the thoughts of others arranged around us, everyone else accounted for.”

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this perspective from Mitchell, with framing analytic encounters more attuned to the emotional risk and connection between client and therapist. One idea that I value a great deal is that clients and therapists enter into encounters with their own hopes and dreads. Some of those hopes are to be better, and some of those hopes can be hopes that need to be surrendered to be able to better. Throughout, Mitchell shows an attunement to nuance and curiosity,

[José Bahamondes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excelente libro, una pena que no esté traducido al español. Aborda temáticas centrales del psicoanálisis relacional y las desarrolla fabulosamente a lo largo de los capítulos, destacando el capitulo 4. "Multiple selves, singular self", y el último "The dialectics of hope". Para quienes trabajamos desde el psicoanálisis relacional, siempre es bueno volver a leer a Stephen A. Mitchell.

[Gray Hou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good intro to modern psychoanalysis. Enjoyed the clinical case studies. Lost me a bit at the end though

[bird · Rating 3 out of 5]

fine

[Gilahk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written well, fine attempt at expalning the convuluted world of psychodnamic theory and practice, which is as vareid as the people who particpate.

It is sad that the author died so young, may his memory be for a blessing.

[Kent · Rating 4 out of 5]

it's good. just like his others, but more theoretic and academic so far.