Innovations in Psychoanalysis: Originality, Development, Progress (Philosophy and Psychoanalysis)

From its very inception, psychoanalysis has been a discipline encompassing two contradictory tendencies. This dualistic tendency – tradition alongside disenchantment and the will to improve knowledge – is likely responsible for psychoanalysis’s powerful capacity to survive. In Innovations in Psychoanalysis: Originality, Development, Progress, Aner Govrin and Jon Mills bring together the most eminent and diverse psychoanalysts to reflect upon the evolution, vitality, and richness of psychoanalysis today.

Psychoanalysis is undergoing significant transformations involving the entire spectrum of disciplinary differences. This book illuminates these transformations, importantly revealing the innovations in technique, the evolving understanding of theory within existing schools of thought, the need for empirical resurgence, innovations in infant research, neuropsychoanalysis, in the development of new interventions and methods of treatment, and in philosophical and metatheoretical paradigms. Uniquely bringing together psychoanalysts representing different fields of expertise, the contributors answer two questions in this collection of ground-breaking essays: "What are the most important developments in psychoanalysis today?" and "What impact has your chosen perspective had on conducting psychoanalytic treatment?" Their thought-provoking and challenging answers are essential for anyone who wants to fully understand the field of psychoanalysis in our changing, current world.

Innovations in Psychoanalysis brings a whole array of differing schools of thought in dialogue with one another and will be of interest to psychoanalysts, psychologists, psychotherapists, philosophers, and historians of the behavioral sciences worldwide.

Aner Govrin, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and director of the doctoral program Psychoanalysis and Hermeneutics in the Department of Hermeneutics and Cultural Studies at Bar-Ilan University. Author of many publications in psychoanalysis and ethics, he maintains a private practice in Tel Aviv and is a member of the Tel Aviv Institute for Contemporary Psychoanalysis.

Jon Mills, PsyD, PhD, ABPP, is a philosopher, psychoanalyst, and clinical psychologist. He is a faculty member in the postgraduate programs in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy, Gordon F. Derner School of Psychology at Adelphi University; is Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Psychoanalysis at Adler Graduate Professional School, Toronto; and is the author of numerous works in psychoanalysis, philosophy, and cultural studies. He runs a mental health corporation in Ontario, Canada.