The Other

A meditation on how psychoanalysis, as the "only real discipline of the excessive," has an indispensable contribution to make in fathoming the "causeless hatred" of racism and bigotry that continues to plague the human species. Frosh cites both Lacan and Melanie Klein as theorists whose ideas seem so "breathtakingly mad" that their "continuing existence" can be explained only "as a sign or emblem of the wildness within," but he draws particularly on the work of Jean Laplanche and Judith Butler to propose that the other is formative of the subject, and hence should be accorded primacy both psychologically and ethically. Intriguingly, Frosh utilizes what might appear to be a relational premise to make a postmodernist argument that the consequent "ex-centric" location of psychic life enriches the subject but also-most notably under conditions of insecurity, oppression, and violence-creates an intense internal disturbance in which hatred of the other, felt to be entwined with the self, has a propensity to emerge

Psychosocial Studies and Psychology: Is a Critical Approach Emerging?

This article describes a brand of 'psychosocial studies' that adopts a critical attitude towards psychology as a whole, yet remains rooted in an attempt to theorize the 'psychological subject'. Principles for psychosocial studies work of this kind are discussed, arising out of the actual work of one academic centre within a university department of psychology. These principles are: concern with the human subject as a social entity; interest in the emergence of subjectivity in the social domain; interest in critique, defined as a concern with ideological issues in psychology; methodological pluralism, including an active assertion of the value of qualitative and theoretical research, as well as more traditional quantitative research; theoretical pluralism, including interest in discourses traditionally marginalized in academic psychology (e.g. psychoanalysis, systems theory, feminist theory, phenomenology); interest in inter- and transdisciplinary approaches to psychological theory and research; and interest in personal and social change, including psychotherapy. Some complicating issues relating to the process and content of this kind of work are also outlined

Psychoanalysis, colonialism, racism

Postcolonial theory has been ambivalent towards psychoanalysis, for good reasons. One of them is the general suspicion of psychological approaches, with their individualistic focus and general history of neglect of sociohistorical concerns. Additionally, there are specific elements of psychoanalysis’ conceptual framework that draw upon, and advance, colonialist ideology. Freud’s postulation of the “primitive” or “savage” mind, which still infects psychoanalytic thinking, is a prime example here. On the other hand, psychoanalysis’ assertion that all human subjects are inhabited by such “primitivity” goes some way to trouble developmental assumptions. In addition, psychoanalysis offers a number of tools that provide leverage on postcolonial issues—most notably, the damage done by colonialist and racist thought. This article presents some of these arguments in greater detail and also examines two specific contributions to postcolonial psychology made by psychoanalysis. These contributions address the “colonizing gaze” and the “racist imaginary.

Keeping cool in thinking and psychotherapy

Book synopsis: This book provides a rich collection of the work that has been informed by the ideas of the eminent family therapist and clinical psychologist, Dr David Campbell who died in August 2009. Contributors are drawn from different fields and describe models they have developed for organizational consultation, training, therapy and research. The book includes a range of important topics, key ideas which thread through contemporary theoretical frameworks, a research study into young people’s experience of parental mental illness, and the application of Dr Campbell’s use of semantic polarity theory in supervision, research and clinical practice. The innovative consultancy model developed by David Campbell with Marianne Groenbaek is elaborated here. Personal accounts of work in different contexts include a priest consulting within his community, the use of self in training systemic psychotherapists, the experience of consultation in academic settings, and a narrative of a training course for psychiatrists. Interspersed with these chapters are David Campbell's own reflections concerning the development of his ideas and practice over time. The book shows the value of simply expressed ideas applied in complex circumstances and will be welcomed by many different readers to enrich their thinking and practice

Psychoanalysis, Nazism and "Jewish science"

In this paper the author offers a partial examination of the troubled history of psychoanalysis in Germany during the Nazi period. Of particular interest is the impact on psychoanalysis of its 'Jewish origins'--something denigrated by the Nazis but reclaimed by more recent Jewish and other scholars. The author traces the rapid decline of the pre-Nazi psychoanalytic institutions under the sway of a policy of appeasement and collaboration, paying particular attention to the continuation of some forms of psychoanalytic practice within the 'Göring Institute'. He suggests that a feature of this history was the anti-Semitism evidenced by some non-Jewish psychoanalysts, which revealed an antagonism towards their own positioning as followers of the 'Jewish science'

Taking a stand: using psychoanalysis to explore the positioning of subjects in discourse

This paper is concerned with thinking through the cultural construction of personal identities whilst avoiding the classical social–individual division. Our starting point is the notion that there is no such thing as ‘the individual’, standing outside the social; however, there is an arena of personal subjectivity, even though this does not exist other than as already inscribed in the sociocultural domain. Our argument is that there are psychoanalytic concepts which can be helpful in exploring this ‘inscription’ and thus in explaining the trajectory of individual subjects; that is, their specific positioning in discourse. The argument is illustrated by data from a qualitative study of young masculinities, exploring the ways in which some individual boys take up positions in various degrees of opposition to the dominant ideology of ‘hegemonic’ masculinity

The future of politics and psychoanalysis

This is a review essay of Eli Zaretsky's 'Political Freud' and Rozine Perelberg's 'Murdered father, Dead Father'