Publication date:
09 May 2013Length of book:
220 pagesPublisher
Jason Aronson, Inc.ISBN-13: 9780765708809
In Missing Us: Re-Visioning Psychoanalysis from the Perspective of Community, Ryan LaMothe questions the ways in which psychoanalytic and psychodynamic theorists and clinicians have historically relied principally on a two-person psychology to understand psychosocial development and practice. While this has many benefits, two-person perspectives often overlook a central need and struggle in human life, namely community. The concept of community and its cognate communion expand and deepen psychoanalytic theories of development, as well as reframe, in part, psychoanalytic concepts, processes, and aims.
In Missing Us, LaMothe, relying on the Scottish philosopher John Macmurray, carefully defines the concept of community, being sure to differentiate it from the notions of sociality and intersubjectivity. Using this definition and the concept of person, LaMothe reframes potential space, transference, and motivation. Given this unique perspective, LaMothe addresses the strengths, limitations, and challenges of psychoanalysis as a therapeutic ritual.
In Missing Us, LaMothe, relying on the Scottish philosopher John Macmurray, carefully defines the concept of community, being sure to differentiate it from the notions of sociality and intersubjectivity. Using this definition and the concept of person, LaMothe reframes potential space, transference, and motivation. Given this unique perspective, LaMothe addresses the strengths, limitations, and challenges of psychoanalysis as a therapeutic ritual.
LaMothe also wrote Heresies of the Heart: Developing Emotional Wisdom (2009), Becoming Alive: Psychoanalysis and Vitality (2005), and Revitalizing Faith through Pastoral Counseling (2001), along with journal articles on a range of psychoanalytic themes. Among those articles are "Freud's Envy of Religious Experience," "Political Humiliation, Object Use," and "Psychological Changes in the Life of Malcolm X." In this volume, he intends to add to psychoanalytic anthropology. He draws often from the works of Ronald Fairbairn, Ian Suttie, and Donald Winnicott, and from philosopher John Macmurray. LaMothe asserts that analysis should include assessment of the parts played by economics, politics, and social domains on the person's community. Highly readable concrete characterizations of his therapy with particular patients-in-community bring theory to life. Chapter titles adequately represent coverage: "Psychoanalysis and Community," "Persons-in-Community," "Being Alive Together: Potential Space, Transitional Objects, and Persons-in-Community," "Communion of Everyday Life: Motivation, the Unconscious, and the Struggle of and for Community," "Transference Love in Light of Communion and Community," and "Psychoanalysis and Community: Strengths, Limitations, and Challenges." Of interest to the psychoanalytic community. Summing Up: Recommended. Professionals.