The Culture-Breast in Psychoanalysis: Cultural Experiences and the Clinic

Research output: Book/ReportBookpeer-review

Abstract

We are fed at the breast of culture, not wholly but to differing degrees. "The Culture-Breast in Psychoanalysis: Cultural Experiences and the Clinic" focuses on the formative influence of cultural objects in our lives, and the contribution such experiences make to our mental health and overall wellbeing.

The book introduces “the culture-breast”, a new clinical concept, to explore the central importance played by cultural objects in the psychical lives of patients and psychoanalytic clinical practitioners inside and outside the consulting room. Bringing together clinical writings from psychoanalysis and cultural objects from the applied fields of film, art, literature and music, the book also makes an argument for the usefulness of encounters with cultural objects as “non-clinical case studies” in the training and further professional development of psychoanalysts and psychotherapists. Through its engagement with psychosocial studies, this text, furthermore, interrogates, challenges and offers a way through a hierarchical split that has become established in psychoanalysis between “clinical psychoanalysis” and “applied psychoanalysis”.

Combining approaches used in clinical, academic and arts settings, "The Culture-Breast in Psychoanalysis" is an essential resource for clinical practitioners of psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, counselling, psychology and psychiatry. It will also be of interest to researchers and practitioners in the fields of psychosocial studies, sociology, social work, cultural studies and the creative and performing arts.
Original languageEnglish
Place of PublicationLondon and New York
PublisherRoutledge
Number of pages190
ISBN (Electronic)9780429458170
ISBN (Print)9781138312517
Publication statusPublished (in print/issue) - 25 Apr 2021

Publication series

NamePsychoanalysis and Popular Culture

Keywords

  • Psychoanalysis
  • Clinical Psychoanalysis
  • Psychoanalytic Theory
  • Kleinian Psychoanalysis
  • Transference
  • Countertransference
  • Arts and Culture

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