FEMALE PSYCHOLOGY, AN ANNOTATED PSYCHOANALYTIC BIBLIOGRAPHY
Edited by Eleanor Schuker, M.D., and Nadine A. Levin son, D.D.S., F.A.C.D.
New Jersey, The Analytic Press
1991, pp.67

Halpern, M.D., Jodi

English

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Jefferson Journal of PsychiatryVolume 10 | Issue 2 Article 12June 1992Women's PsychologyJodi Halpern, M.D.University of California at Los AngelesFollow this and additional works at: https://jdc.jefferson.edu/jeffjpsychiatryPart of the Psychiatry CommonsLet us know how access to this document benefits youThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Jefferson Digital Commons. The Jefferson Digital Commons is a service of ThomasJefferson University's Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL). The Commons is a showcase for Jefferson books and journals, peer-reviewed scholarlypublications, unique historical collections from the University archives, and teaching tools. The Jefferson Digital Commons allows researchers andinterested readers anywhere in the world to learn about and keep up to date with Jefferson scholarship. This article has been accepted for inclusion inJefferson Journal of Psychiatry by an authorized administrator of the Jefferson Digital Commons. For more information, please contact:JeffersonDigitalCommons@jefferson.edu.Recommended CitationHalpern, M.D., Jodi (1992) "Women's Psychology," Jefferson Journal of Psychiatry: Vol. 10 : Iss. 2 , Article 12.DOI: https://doi.org/10.29046/JJP.010.2.009Available at: https://jdc.jefferson.edu/jeffjpsychiatry/vol10/iss2/12Book ReviewsWomen's PsychologyFEMALE PSYCHO LO GY, AN ANNOTATED PSYCHOANALYT IC BIBLIOGRAPHYedite d by Eleanor Schuker, M.D. , and Na dine A. Levinson , D.D.S., F.A.C.D.New J ersey, The Analyt ic Press199 1, 678 pp .by Jodi Halpern, M.D.Tw en ty years afte r int er est in women's stud ies has had major impact onacade mia and profession al psychology training, psych oan alyt ic institut es a nd psychi-a t r ic resid en cies remain su rprising ly un affect ed . Few res ide ncies or analyt ic ins ti-tu tes teach spec ia lized courses in wome n's psychology, or include conside ra tions ofge nde r in other courses . Residents lack a basic understa nd ing of female developmentth rough th e life cycle, a nd of th e im pact of ge nd er on persona lit y, diagnosis andtreatm ent and th ere is a lack of a ppreciat ion for how gender impacts upon theprocess of psych oth erap y.In the mid 1980's, the Workshop on Issu es for Women of th e Co uncil onPsych oa nalytic Edu ca t ion (C O PE) res ponded to t he need for ed uca tion on fem alepsycho logy. Some of the members as ked thei r inst itutes to provide courses onwomen's psycho logy and were told th a t there was insufficient psychoan alyti c lit era-ture to just ify a course on women. This insp ire d Eleanor Schu ker and NadineLevinson, with th e su ppo rt of Ba rb ara Deutsch a nd Helen Meyers, th e cha irs of th eC O PE workshop, to sp end five years reviewing th e litera ture on wom en and psycho-a nalysis. The resu lt of the ir inspi red efforts , which involv ed th e collabora t ion of six tycolleagues, is this com prehens ive bib liography. The more th an two th ou sand booksand ar ticles clearly a nno tated here, coveri ng psychoanalyti c views of wom en fromFre ud to th e pr esen t time, serve as a resoundi ng response to th e claim th at th er e isan insu fficien t lit e ra tu re on wom en and psychoan alysis.Female Psychology, A n Annotated Psychoanalytic B ibliography is an exte nsively re-searched an d clearly wr itten tex t and is unusually user-fr iendly. It is divided int o fivesec t ions: " H istor ica l Vi ews," " Developmental Perspective," "Female Sexu ality andCha ract er Psychopathology," "Clinica l Concepts ," and " Reading List s." The sec t ionon "His to r ica l Vi ews" se parate ly list s hist ori cal pa pers and mo dern comme ntaries onsign ifica nt figures in the hist ory of psychoanalysis, to me et diffe rent research needs .W ithin each chapter th e anno tat ions a re listed chro no logica lly rather than alphabe t-ically so t ha t users ca n have a tempor al reference to cha r t th e development of ideas5556 J EFFERSO N J O URNAL OF PSYCHIATRYon each topi c. The a nno ta t ions a re lucid a nd go into suffic ien t depth to allow th eread er to cre a te conce ptual schemes of the top ic a nd of the author's theoreticalori entation. For exa m ple, one sees how Klein, Horn ey an d Fenichel influenced eac hot he r's conce pt ions of t he development of female se xuality . Each chapter begins witha com me ntary th at describ es th e development of ideas and points out areas ofcurre n t controve rsy. O verall , th ese commentaries were though t-provoking but bri ef.Future ed it ions of this bibli ography could benefit fro m a llocat ing more room forth ese di scussion s.The topi cs of th e twent y-eight chapte rs re flec t th e marriage of traditionalpsychoanalyti c views of wom en 's issu es, with more rece nt conceptions of wom en 'spsych ology. For exa m ple, th e section on femal e sexuality a nd character psychopathol-ogy, includes cha pte rs on masochi sm , narcissism , eati ng disorders, sexual abuse,ge nde r identity disorders, paraphilias a nd ego-dys to n ic homosexu aliti es. This spiritof broad ening rather than crit icizing th e ca tegories into wh ich psych oa nalysis ha splaced wom en's conce rns is welcome.By juxt aposin g recent research on wom en from outs ide psychoan a lysis withtraditional analyti c papers, this text invit es psychoan alys ts to re think ma ny basicconce pt ions of women . For exa m ple th e introducti on to the chapt er on sexual ityd ivid es th e topi c as follow s: first , hist ori cally important papers on fem ininity, sexualidentity and sexua l drives; second, recent em pirical research on the femal e sexualresponse cycle including masturbation , a ro usal patterns a nd orgasm; thi rd, psycho log-ical as pects of se xual fun ctioning a nd ero tic excitement; four t h, writ ings on femininebody im age a nd th e psychi c representation of th e female genitals and rel at edconflicts; and fift h globa l theories of sexuality, incl udi ng papers on gender identitya nd femininity. The effect of th ese sub-ca tegories is to raise several ques tions in th ereade r's mind. For exa m ple, whic h as pects of t he historica l wr itings derive fromfa ulty conce p tions of the fe male sex ual respo nse cycle and of the psychic representa-t ion of body im age and th e fe male ge nitals, a nd which as pects are sti ll conce ptua llyvia ble tod ay? What particul ar cont r ibu t ion ca n psychoan alyt ic theory make tounderstanding a nd di stingui shing between th e development of gender identity/femininity and th e development of object choice /styles of erotic excite me n t? Thischap te r mak es it possibl e to do crea t ive research on th ese an d myriad otherqu estion s.The secti on en tit led "Clinica l Co nce pts" illuminat es th e in terdependen cy ofwomen 's roles in society with th e rol e of th e th erapi st / an alyst by focus ing on genderissu es in transferen ce and countert ra nsfe re nce and on th e pr egn ant a na lyst. Psychia t-ric resid ents, wh o a re most ofte n tau ght a bou t t ran sference a nd coun te rtransferen cein terms of th e dyad of mal e th erapist and female pa t ien t, will be particularlyinterested in t his sec tion. The first chapte r cove rs a lte rnat ive t herapeu tic dyads, andincludes papers on ero tized transferen ce involvin g th e fema le therapist. The influ-ence of ge nde r in th e supe rviso ry rela tion ship is also considered. The second chapte ron th e pregn ant a nalyst add resses a very common occurrence in th e lives ofpsychi atric residents a nd recent gra d ua tes th at is rare ly ta ught about in residen cytraining. Women residents will find in both th ese chapters an abundance of refer-BOOK REVIEWS 57ences that illuminate their expe rIe nces as therapists, and provide the basis forfurther research.Most im por ta n t ly, this text offe rs an irresi stible invitation to institut es andresiden cies to teach cou rse s on women 's psychology. In th e fin al chap te r th e au tho rsgive comprehensive course outlines for four different kinds of cou rse s: a twelveseminar cou rse for psychoanalytic candida tes, adva nce d psychi atric residen ts andpsychologists; a thir teen seminar course for undergraduate s tudy; a two-day cou rsefo r p racti cing clinicians; and an eigh tee n se ssion se m inar wi th a focus on cur re ntcont rove rsies for advanced psychoanalyti c trainees a nd grad uates of analyti c ins ti-tutes. Thes e outlines are designed exce p tiona lly well a nd ready for pra ct ical use,needing on ly the spa rk of interest to materialize into exc it ing cours es.In summary, eve ry residen cy and psychoanalytic in stitute in t his coun t ry shouldhave a copy of Female Psychology, A n Annotated Psychoanalytic Bi bilography . Elean orSchuker, Nadine Levinson and th eir colle ague s are to be congrat ula ted for producin ga text that promises to revolutionize psychoanalyti c a nd psychiatri c educ a t ion.

Women\u27s Psychology

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Women\u27s Psychology

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