1st Edition
The Possible Profession:The Analytic Process of Change
The Possible Profession: The Analytic Process of Change takes a fresh look at the many forms of unconscious communication that take place in the analytic situation. Bringing together two decades of the author’s previous writing as well as a considerable amount of new material, this book addresses a major contemporary issue in the field of psychoanalysis.
Unconscious communication in the analytic situation takes many forms. This book explores a number of these pathways as the author has encountered them in clinical work. Including numerous clinical examples, chapters cover a variety of topics with a central focus on:
- the relationship between the inner worlds of patient and analyst
- the interplay between these intrapsychic forces
- how this interaction affects the analytic process and, more specifically, the therapeutic action of psychoanalysis.
Written in a clear and concise way this book contributes to a new understanding of familiar material in a way that will be welcomed by teachers, students, and practitioners of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy. It will also be of interest to dynamic therapists of all persuasions and academics in various fields interested in psychoanalytic thinking.
Finding a Point of View: Introduction. Section I: Interaction and the Inner World. On Beginnings: The Concept of the Therapeutic Alliance and the Interplay of Transferences in the Opening Phase. The Inner Experiences of the Analyst: Their Contribution to the Analytic Process. On Misreading and Misleading Patients: Some Reflections on Communications, Miscommunications, and Countertransference Enactments. Imaginary Gardens, Real Toads: On Memory and Its Uses in the Analytic Process. On Unconscious Communications and Covert Enactments: Some Reflections on Their Role in the Analytic Situation. Patients as Instruments of Change: Their Role in the Analytic Process. On Courage: A Fragment of an Analysis. Section II: Questions, Controversies, Explorations. On the Status of Nonverbal Communications: Some Reflections on Their Role in the Analytic Process and Analytic Education. Reflections on the Goals of Analysis and the Process of Change. On the Question of Self-Disclosure: Error or Advance in Treatment. Listening, Sharing, Dreaming: On the Uses of the Analyst’s Inner Experiences. Some Reflections on Slippery Slopes and an Approach on Those on the Edge. Section III: Reflections, Extensions, Historical Perspectives. Countertransferences Past and Present: A Review of the Concept. In Search of the Mind of the Analyst: A Progress Report. Hans Loewald: An Appreciation. On the Adolescent Neurosis. Travels with Charlie: On My Longstanding Affair with Theory. James Joyce and Molly Bloom. Insights, Epiphanies, and Working Through: On Healing, Self-Healing, and Creativity in the Writer and the Analyst. On Hope in Analysis and for Analysis. Index.
Biography
Theodore J. Jacobs, M.D., is a child and adolescent psychoanalyst as well as an adult analyst in private practice. He is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry (Emeritus) at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and a Training and Supervising Analyst at the New York Psychoanalytic Institute and Institute for Psychoanalytic Education. Dr. Jacobs is also a past president of The Association for Child Psychoanalysis.
