A Psychotherapy for the People: Toward a Progressive Psychoanalysis

by Aron; Lewis

• ISBN13: 9780415529990
• ISBN10: 0415529999
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2012-12-03
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Inspired by the progressive and humanistic origins of psychoanalysis, Lewis Aron and Karen Starr pursue Freud's call for a "psychotherapy for the people." They present a cultural history that focuses on how psychoanalysis has always defined itself in relation to an "other." At first, that other was hypnosis and suggestion; later it became psychotherapy. The authors trace a series of binary oppositions, each defined hierarchically, which have plagued the history of psychoanalysis. Tracing reverberations of racism, anti-Semitism, misogyny, and homophobia, they show that psychoanalysis, associated with phallic-masculinity, penetration, heterosexuality, autonomy, and culture, was defined in opposition to suggestion and psychotherapy, which were seen as promoting dependence, feminine passivity, and relationality. In this radical tour-de-force, Aron and Starr deconstruct these dichotomies, leading the way for a return to Freud's progressive vision, in which psychoanalysis, defined broadly and flexibly, is revitalized for a new era.