Traditional psychoanalysis relies on the presence of certain meaning-making capacities in the patient for its effectiveness. Primitive Mental States examines how particular capacities, including those for symbolising, fantasising, dreaming, experiencing, and finding meanings in those experiences, can be taken for granted. Many of us lack these capacities in certain dimensions of our minds, making traditional psychoanalysis ineffective.
Key Features
- Examines prenatal imprints on the mind and body.
- Addresses difficult to treat patients.
- Explores non-verbal, non-symbolic, disembodied states of being.
- Discusses early relational and attachment trauma.
Additional Information
In this book, international contributors are brought together to consider a radical evolution in contemporary psychoanalytic theory developed from a combination of ultrasound studies, infant analysis, and observation of mothers and babies. These findings demonstrate how much mental life exists even before birth and consider unevolved, unborn, and barely born aspects of the self, such as the birth of emotion and the birth of alpha functioning. Illustrated throughout with original data and extensive clinical discussions from some of the biggest names in the field, Primitive Mental States will be a useful resource for students and seasoned analysts alike.
