Intimacy: Clinical, Cultural, Digital and Developmental Perspectives

Intimacy: Clinical, Cultural, Digital and Developmental Perspectives applies a contemporary, psychoanalytic lens to the many facets of intimacy between people, from romantic and sexual relationships, to friendliness, as well as the ways intimacy is mediated by new digital technologies.

Identifying commonalities and differences between a range of approaches, including Classical Freudian, attachment theory, and interpersonal theory, the book includes case studies that highlight how intimacy is framed in a variety of relationships. It examines the line between privacy and intimacy, as well as how intimacy changes at different stages of one’s lifespan.

From the friends we have to the pets we own, or the faith we follow, a cross-cultural perspective ensures that intimacy is conceived of as a broad, essential element underlying all human relationships. The intimacy between analyst and analysand is also examined.

This far-reaching book will interest both practicing and training psychoanalysts and psychotherapists, as well as those in related disciplines.

Gurmeet Kanwal, M.D., is Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, and Supervising Psychoanalyst and Teaching Faculty, William Alanson White Institute of Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis and Psychology. He is co-editor (with Salman Akhtar) of Bereavement: Personal Experiences and Clinical Applications (Karnac Books, 2017). He practices in New York City.

Salman Akhtar, M.D., is Professor of Psychiatry at Jefferson Medical College and Training and Supervising Analyst at the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia. He is the author/editor of over 90 books, including the most recent, Mind, Culture, and Global Unrest (Routledge, 2018).