{"product_id":"metapsychology-for-contemporary-psychoanalysis-mind-world-and-self-9781138242210","title":"Metapsychology for Contemporary Psychoanalysis: Mind, World, and Self","description":"\u003cp\u003e • Author(s): Richard Sembera\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher: Routledge\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher Imprint: Routledge\u003cbr\u003e • BISAC: Movements - Psychoanalysis\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eMetapsychology for Contemporary Psychoanalysis\u003c\/em\u003e is a complete revision of the theoretical underpinnings of psychoanalysis and psychodynamic psychotherapy. It seeks to replace the traditional \u003ci\u003edrive-defence \u003c\/i\u003emodel of Freudian tradition with an \u003ci\u003einformation processing \u003c\/i\u003emodel of the mind. This book argues that the central human need is for \u003ci\u003eself-knowledge\u003c\/i\u003e, and that drives are best understood as means towards this end.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRichard Sembera begins with a close reading of Freud's own metapsychological writings, isolating the many unresolved difficulties and inconsistencies which continue to burden psychoanalytical theory today. By returning to the actual observable clinical phenomena in the analytic situation, it is shown that an alternative interpretation is possible that eliminates the theoretical difficulties in question. In the analytic situation, Sembera argues that clinicians do not in fact see individuals struggling against the expression of biological drives, rather they observe individuals struggling to clarify their experience of themselves in the presence of the analyst and put this experience into words. When this process is formalized and expressed in theoretical terms, it is found to consist of three distinct aspects: \u003ci\u003eobjectification\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eimagination\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003esymbolization\u003c\/i\u003e. This process as a whole--ascent towards the other, relationship with the other, disclosure of self in the light of the other--is termed the dialectical structure of the self. It is conceptualized as the main accomplishment of the core mental process, the \u003ci\u003eprocess of contextualization\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis work is distinguished from other attempts at theoretical revision by its fundamental commitment to coherence and clarity as well as its determination to challenge accepted psychoanalytic dogma. It argues for the complete irrelevance of biology and neuroscience to the psychoanalytic enterprise and rejects the theory of drives in its entirety. Instead it affirms the centrality of the \u003ci\u003etraumatic response \u003c\/i\u003eto mental functioning, emphasises the social matrix in which drives are embedded, re-examines the concepts of free will, accountability, and responsibility, and concludes with an attempt to understand waking life as a creative product analogous to the \u003ci\u003elucid dream\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDrawing on major psychoanalytic thinkers including Bollas and Benjamin, and current philosophy of mind, this book provides readers with a clear, updated model of metapsychology. \u003ci\u003eMetapsychology for Contemporary Psychoanalysis \u003c\/i\u003ewill appeal to psychoanalysts and psychotherapists, as well as philosophy scholars and anyone with an interest in the philosophy of psychoanalysis.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Routledge","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":46931261030551,"sku":"9781138242210","price":13345.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0666\/3471\/1191\/files\/9781138242210.webp?v=1771612053","url":"https:\/\/atlanticbooks.com\/products\/metapsychology-for-contemporary-psychoanalysis-mind-world-and-self-9781138242210","provider":"Atlantic Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}