A Brief Introduction to Psychoanalytic Theory

Stephen Frosh (Author)

Textbook

A Brief Introduction to Psychoanalytic Theory

Stephen Frosh (Author)

Textbook

Ebook (Epub & Mobi) ₹2691.00 Ebook (PDF) ₹2691.00

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Description

Psychoanalytic theory remains hugely influential to our understanding of the mind and human behaviour. It provides a rich source of ideas for therapeutic practice while offering dramatic insights for the study of culture and society, with applications that extend across film, literature and politics. Taking you step-by-step through Freud's original ideas and their evolution, this book explores the birth of psychoanalysis and provides a clear account of fundamental psychoanalytic concepts.

New to this edition:
· A new chapter on class, gender and race
· Expanded sections on neuropsychoanalysis, relational theory and trauma
· Updated throughout to offer a succinct exploration of the history, development and current standing of psychoanalysis

Written by a highly respected authority in the field, this updated edition is essential reading for trainees in counselling and psychotherapy, as well as for students across the arts, humanities and social sciences.

A Brief Introduction to Psychoanalytic Theory is also available in audiobook format from audiobook retailers.

Preface to the Second Edition

PART ONE: FREUDIAN THEORY
Chapter 1: The Appeal of Psychoanalysis
Chapter 2: Main Schools of Psychoanalysis
Chapter 3: What Freud was Trying to Do
Chapter 4: The Freudian Unconscious
Chapter 5: Sex, aggression, life and death
Chapter 6: Repression and Other Defences
Chapter 7: The Structure of the Mind: id, ego, superego.
Chapter 8: Oedipus, Masculinity, Femininity
Chapter 9: Psychopathology: What Makes Us Sad (and Mad)

PART TWO: DEVELOPMENTS IN PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY
Chapter 10: Psychoanalysts after Freud
Chapter 11: Attachment, Mentalisation and Neuropsychoanalysis
Chapter 12: The Principles of Object Relations Theory
Chapter 13: Mourning, Melancholia, Loss and Trauma
Chapter 14: The Paranoid-Schizoid Position and Other Extremes
Chapter 15: Projection and Psychosis
Chapter 16: Imaginary, Symbolic and Real: Lacanian psychoanalysis

PART THREE: THEORY OF THERAPY
Chapter 17: Interpretation and Transference
Chapter 18: Countertransference and Intersubjectivity

PART FOUR: WIDER APPLICATIONS
Chapter 19: Psychoanalysis, Film and Literature
Chapter 20: Politics and Society
Chapter 21: Class, Gender and Race

Conclusion
Recommended Reading

Product details

Published	05 Feb 2026
Format	Ebook (PDF)
Edition	2nd
Extent	224
ISBN	9781350534094
Imprint	Bloomsbury Academic
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing

Author

Stephen Frosh

Stephen Frosh is a Fellow of the Academy of Social…

This most impressive book should be welcomed not only by all coming new to the detailed study of psychoanalysis but also by experienced clinicians and trainees from many psychotherapeutic approaches.

Review of the first edition, Therapy Today
Stephen Frosh… has written an intelligent, informed and engaging book. …It is eloquent, clear without being simplistic, erudite without being pompous. Frosh understands his subject matter and has a facility for explanation.

Review of the first edition, Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy
Few can render psychoanalysis with such remarkable accessibility as Stephen Frosh. This introduction blends conceptual clarity and contemporary reflections, making a complex subject engaging for anyone wishing to explore it.

Nini Kerr, Senior Lecturer in Counselling and Psychotherapy, University of Edinburgh, UK