Psychoanalysis
in Narrative
This page deal with narrative as it relates to psychoanalysis and the depth
psychologies
which developed
in both Europe and the United States as a consequence of or in
reaction to
the work of Sigmun Freud are included on this page. The more general
topic of psychotherapy
and psychological methods of healing are treated on a
separate subpage.
Other subpages are devoted to the issues of the the assessment of
mental disorders
and the nature and construction of psychopathology and
mental disorders,
two important topics in the disciplines of clinical psychology and
psychiatry.
Roy Schafer
Donald P. Spence
Freeman, M. (1985). Psychoanalytic
narration and the problem of historical
knowledge.
Psychoanalysis and Contemporary Thought, 8, 133-182.
Freeman, M.
(1989). Between the "science" and the "art" of interpretation: Freud's
method of interpreting
dreams. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 6, 293-308.
Gay, P. (1988).
Freud: A life for our time. New York: W. W. Norton.
This biography of Freud written by Gay, the Yale historian of the
Englightenment, Weimar German culture, and psychoanalysis, offers a
thoroughly accessible, moderately contemporary, though ultimately
middle-of-the-road view of Freud's work, thought, and
self-understanding. For researchers interested in understanding the origins
and complexities of the man and his thought, Gay's monumental and
critical "Bibliographical Essay" (pp. 741-779) surveying the secondary
literature devoted to psychoanalysis and Freud up through the mid-1980s
is particularly valuable. Works focusing on the historical background and
intellectual grounding of both psychoanalysis and early 20th century
psychiatry are surveyd on pp. 753-755. Note that narrative
interpretations of psychoanalysis suggested by Schafer (1976) and
Spence (1984) do not appear to have influenced Gay's understanding of
the analytic method.
+Hornstein,
G. A. (1992). The return of the repressed: Psychology's problematic
relations with
psychoanalysis, 1909-1960. American Psychologist, 47, 254-263.
Psychology has been in dialogue and conflict with psychoanalysis since
Freud's initial trip to the U.S. This article details the ways in which
psychology coped with the "radical subjectivity" of psychoanalysis and
the
positivist program by which psychology responded. A good historical
perspective on important issues.
Nye, C. H.
(1994). Narrative interaction and the development of client autonomy in
clinical practice.
Clinical Social Work Journal, 22, 43-57.
How does a client develop autonomy in the course of psychoanalytic
treatment? A case is used to demonstrate, by use of discourse analysis,
how this is seen in a client's narrative within therapy.
+Schafer, R.
(1976). A new language for psychoanalysis. New Haven, CT: Yale
University
Press. [BF173.S3278]
Schafer, R.
(1992). Retelling a life: Narration and dialogue in psychoanalysis.
New York: Basic
Books. [RC506.S292 1992]
Following upon his pioneering work first summarized in 1976, Schafer
(1992) outlines how the self is narrated, Freud's problems with women
and issues of gender, and what an "action" narratively-informed
psychoanalytic practice informed by the notion of "action narrative" would
look like.
Smith, J. H.
(Ed.). (1992). Telling facts : History and narration in
psychoanalysis.
Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. [RC321.P943
v.13]
+Spence, D.
P. (1984). Narrative truth and historical truth. New York: W. W.
Norton. [RC505.S66
1984]
Freud used the metaphor of an archeological expedition to describe the
work of psychoanalysis: at the end of the labor, he believed, the client
would reach the "historical" truth which had been buried all along in the
unconscious. Spence's seminal work recasts the psychoanalytic endeavor
under the metaphor of rhetorical speech in which therapist and patient
exchange contrasting interpretations of what is "true" in the patient's
past.
Gradually the therapist provides the patient with a better story, a more
adequate, consistent and convincing narrative.
+Spence, D.
P. (1986). Narrative smoothing and clinical wisdom. In T. Sarbin (Ed.),
Narrative psychology:
The storied nature of human conduct (pp. 211-232).
New York: Praeger.
Viederman,
S. (1979). The analytic space: Meaning and problems. Psychoanalytic
Quarterly,
5, 45-62.
+Wyatt, F.
(1986). The narrative in psychoanalysis: Psychoanalytic notes on
storytelling,
listening, and interpreting. In T. Sarbin (Ed.), Narrative psychology:
The
storied nature
of human conduct (pp. 193-210). New York: Praeger.
Wyse, L. A.
(Chair; 1995, December), Rethinking culture and psychoanalysis
(Cassette Recording
Nos. D-10105-95A and D-10105-95B). Symposium conducted
at the 39th
Winter Meeting of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis, Cambridge,
MA. [Double
cassettes available from Audio Transcripts, Ltd., 335 South Patrick
Street, Suite
220, Alexandria, VA 22314]
This important symposium was marked by three presentations which take
seriously the impact of diversity in cultural development and experience
and the challenges offered to the paradigms of psychoanalytic formulation
and therapeutic practice. These papers included:
Cohler, B. J. (1995, December). Culture and nuclear conflict:
Psychoanalysis and the nuclear family.
Kirschner, S. (1995, December). The religious and romantic origins
of psychoanalysis.
Kurtz, S. (1995, December). Toward a cultural reshaping of
psychoanalysis: India and beyond.
This symposium was part of a conference held December 7-10, 1995
whose theme was "Is There A Place For Psychoanalysis in Contemporary
Culture? Identity, Adaption, Survival". It marks how seriously cultural
psychology and narrative perspectives appear to be receiving a hearing
by
more traditional therapeutic schools. See, too, several other relevant
presentations at this conference including Shweder (1995, December)
noted among the anthropology resources and Fox-Keller (1995,
December) among the resources on self-narrative and identity. Robert
LeVine served as the discussant for the presentations.
Hevern, V. W. (1997, November). Narrative Psychology: Internet and Resource
Guide [Online].
Syracuse, NY: Author. Available: <http://maple.lemoyne.edu/~hevern/narpsych.html>
Narrative Psychology: Internet and Resource Guide
is copyright © 1996, 1997 by Vincent W. Hevern, SJ, all rights reserved.
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