Offering a unique perspective on psychoanalysis that features a new way of
conceptualizing the role of dreaming in human psychology, the author builds on
the work of Freud, Klein, Winnicott and Bion, and explores the idea that human
psychopathology is a manifestation of a breakdown of the individual's capacity
to dream his experience.Why is dreaming the mind's single most important psychoanalytic activity?
"This Art of Psychoanalysis" offers a unique perspective on psychoanalysis that
features a new way of conceptualizing the role of dreaming in human psychology.
Thomas Ogden's thinking has been at the cutting edge of psychoanalysis for more
than 25 years. In this volume, he builds on the work of Freud, Klein, Winnicott
and Bion, and explores the idea that human psychopathology is a manifestation
of a breakdown of the individual's capacity to dream his experience. The
investigation into the role of the analyst in participating psychologically in
the patient's dreaming is illustrated throughout with elegant and absorbing
accounts of clinical work, providing a fascinating insight into the analyst's
experience. Subjects covered in it include: a new reading of the origins of
object relations theory; on holding and containing, being and dreaming; and on
psychoanalytic writing. This engaging book succeeds in conveying not just a set
of techniques but a way of being with patients that is humane and
compassionate. It will be of great interest to psychoanalysts, psychotherapists
and other mental health professionals.
