Available for purchase via Bloomsbury etextbooks on publication date
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.
Table of Contents
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 | Feb 05 2026 |
|---|---|
| Format | Ebook (PDF) |
| Edition | 2nd |
| Extent | 224 |
| ISBN | 9781350534094 |
| Imprint | Bloomsbury Academic |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
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