The Dove That Returns, the Dove That Vanishes ─ Paradox and Creativity in Psychoanalysis

The nature of psychoanalysis seems contradictory - deeply personal, subjective and intuitive, yet requiring systematic theory and principles of technique.
In The Dove that Returns, The Dove that Vanishes, Michael Parsons explores the tension of this paradox. As they respond to it and struggle to sustain creatively, analysts discover their individual identities. The work of outstanding clinicians such as Marion Milner and John Klauber is examined in detail. The reader also encounters oriental martial arts, greek Tragedy, the landscape painting of John Constable, a Winnicottian theory of creativity and a discussion of the significance of play in psychoanalysis. From such varied topics evolves a deepening apprehension of the nature of the clinical experience.
Illustrated throughout , The Dove that Returns, The Dove that Vanishes will prove valuable to those in the field of psychoanalysis, and to those in the arts and humanities who are interested in contemporary psychoanalytic thinking.

Michael Parsons is a training analyst of the British Psycho-Analytical Society and a member of the International Psychoanalytical Association. He works in private practice in London.

Introduction. Part I: Rigour and Freedom. Vocation and Martial Art. The Other in the Self. Suddenly Finding it Really Matters. Refinding Theory in Clinical Practice. Psychoanalytic and Personal Identity: The Garden of Forking Paths. Part II: Loss, Acceptance, Creativity. Self-knowledge Refused and Accepted: Euripides' Bacchae and Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus. The Oedipus Complex as a Lifelong Developmental Process: Sophocles' Trachiniae. The Logic of Play. Creativity, Psychoanalytic and Artistic. Psychic Reality, Negation and the Analytic Setting. Conclusion. The Dove That Returns, The Dove That Vanishes. Index.