Introduction To The Practice Of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, Second Edition

This is a practice-oriented textbook which aims to demystify psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Teaching and learning psychoanalytic therapy is a less clear-cut process than for other therapies, and it is easy for students to feel overwhelmed. This accessible guide is based on the author's own long experience of teaching trainee practitioners, and is built on the core premise that psychoanalysis is not so much skill-based as dependent upon development of the analytic attitude, guided by principles of technique that are used in the clinical situation.

The book provides step-by-step guidance and useful pointers in key areas such as how to make interpretations, how to carry out assessments, how to formulate cases in psychodynamic terms and how to approach endings. It presents critical information in an accessible way with case studies and practice guidelines, explaining the processes which underpin psychoanalytic psychotherapy as clearly and simply as possible. The Second Edition is updated throughout, with notable new material on findings from neuroscience and the increasing evidence base for psychoanalytic psychotherapy, the US relational school and the development of Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy, and recent studies in transference.

Alessandra Lemma is Director of the Psychological Therapies Development Unit at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, and a Consultant Adult Psychotherapist at the Portman Clinic. She is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society, Visiting Professor and Clinical Director of the Psychological Interventions Research Centre at University College London, Visiting Professor at Sapienza University of Rome and Honorary Professor of Psychological Therapies at the University of Essex. She is the Editor of the New Library of Psychoanalysis book series, and one of the regional Editors for the International Journal of Psychoanalysis. She has published extensively on psychoanalysis, the body and trauma.