Psychoanalytic Concepts and Technique in Development

Psychoanalytic Concepts and Technique in Development offers a clear and thorough overview of contemporary psychoanalytic theory and clinical technique, from a largely post-Freudian, French perspective, but also informed by the work of Klein, Bion and Winnicott. Drawing on the French tradition, Florence Guignard sets out a comprehensive guide to the major drives and concepts in classical psychoanalysis, and how these are understood and employed in contemporary psychoanalytic training and practice, whilst looking ahead to the future of the discipline and drawing upon findings from related fields.

Guignard explores the premise that the way psychoanalysts conceptualise their theoretical field and technical tools conditions the way their therapeutic discipline is practised. She argues that because their main instrument for healing is their own self, it is of utmost importance to update conceptual tools to think about this. To do so, psychoanalysts can draw on the latest discoveries in related disciplines like neurosciences and physics. Topics covered in this book include

a genealogy of the drives,

the deconstruction of the Oedipus Complex in our contemporary societies,

the role of the psychoanalyst’s infantile part when (s)he is at work,

links between sensorial elements and elements of thinking,

links between psychoanalysis, the neurosciences and physics.


Combining significant insights with an accessible style, Psychoanalytic Concepts and Technique in Development will appeal to psychoanalytic psychotherapists and psychoanalysts of all levels.