Psychoanalytic Collisions Second Edition wrestles with a theme that confronts every psychotherapist: the gap between illusions and realities about the professional self. Joyce Slochower closely examines situations in which the therapist’s professional and personal wishes collide with the actuality of everyday clinical work. The book unpacks the dynamics of these collisions on both beginning and seasoned therapists, offering ways of sustaining a professional ideal while also exploring the mixed impact of that ideal on clinical work.
Key Features
- Substantially revised: This Second Edition includes updated clinical and theoretical material.
- New chapter: A chapter about mutual idealizations that coalesce between patient and analyst.
- Engagement with psychoanalytic collisions: Slochower argues that these collisions can be productively engaged, even if they often cannot be fully resolved.
- Therapeutic hopefulness: The text reveals how hopefulness can coexist with an acceptance of the analyst’s fallibility.
- Exploration of idealization: The book shows how idealization is intrinsic to forging an analytic identity and practicing across a lifetime.
Additional Information
In examining how illusions and ideals affect the therapeutic encounter for both better and worse, Psychoanalytic Collisions invites the reader into the consulting room. Slochower’s work challenges readers to confront their own vulnerabilities and limits while also embracing a professional ideal that is at once human and inspiring. The book is an essential resource for psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, pastoral counselors, and readers interested in the practice of psychotherapy today.
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