Self-Analysis: Critical Inquiries, Personal Visions

by Barron; James W.

• ISBN13: 9780881631432
• ISBN10: 0881631434
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1993-09-01
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Self-Analysisis 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-Analysisrepresent 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.

Table of Contents

Contributors
Foreword
Introduction
Development of the Capacity for Self-Analysis Exploration of Our "Personal Equations"	p. 1
Developmental Foundations for the Capacity for Self-Analysis: Parallels in the Roles of Caregiver and Analyst	p. 5
Does Our Self-Analysis Take Into Consideration Our Assumptions?	p. 29
Analytic Work and Self-Analysis	p. 47
Contemplating the Mirror of the Other: Empathy and Self-Analysis	p. 51
Work with Patients and the Experience of Self-Analysis	p. 63
Engagements in Analysis and Their Use in Self-Analysis	p. 83
Modes of Self-Analytic Activity	p. 111
Self-Analysis of a Taboo	p. 117
On Fastball Pitching, Astronomical Clocks, and Self-Cognition	p. 133
On Talking to Ourselves: Some Self-Analytical Reflections on Self-Analysis	p. 147
The Role of the Other in Self-Analysis	p. 165
The Discovery of Real and Fantasized Audiences for Self-Analysis	p. 171
Mutual Supervision, Countertransference, and Self-Analysis	p. 195
Self and Other in Self-Analysis	p. 219
Self-Analysis, Writing, and Creativity	p. 237
To Write or Not to Write: A Note on Self-Analysis and the Resistance to Self-Analysis	p. 241
Beckett: Self-Analysis and Creativity	p. 261
Freud's Self-Analysis	p. 277
Index	p. 285
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