Persons in Context The Challenge of Individuality in Theory and Practice

"Rugged individualism is as American as apple pie. We are steeped in the myth of the self-made man, and we grow up with exhortations from parents and teachers to 'be your own person.' As Levi-Strauss has argued, myths are transformations of fundamental contradictions that in reality cannot be resolved. At the heart of contemporary psychoanalysis is the paradox that we help our patients search for the truth about the self, but we inevitably discover that the truth is complicated - in fact, the self is forged in a smithy of families, groups, and cultures that makes it nearly impossible to isolate. In this context, this impressive new volume of essays is timely. The authors avoid the solution of throwing out individuality altogether. Instead, the redefine it in all its contexts with the help of hermeneutics, chaos theory, self psychology, intersubjectivity, and neuroscience. Frie and Coburn have collected a stellar group of authors who are at once erudite and scholarly, yet easy for a reader to follow in the development of their ideas. The result is a superb collection that is a cutting edge contribution to contemporary psychoanalytic thought. It will be of considerable interest to both candidates and experienced analysts." - Glen O. Gabbard, M.D., Brown Foundation Chair of Psychoanalysis, Baylor College of Medicine

"This interesting, clinically and theoretically important collection of essays explores the multiple contexts of the experience of individuality, and is an important step in the continuing development of psychoanalysis toward an embracing systems viewpoint. Definitively countering pseudo-explanatory views of human existence that reify the subjective sense of isolated individuality - involving images of a singular monadic subject - the authors point us toward the complex sociocultural, historical, and relational systems within which all lived experience is embedded. The different chapters delineate and clarify the constitutive contexts of the sense of distinctive selfhood in its many variations, and thereby significantly enrich our understanding of psychological development, pathogenesis, and therapeutic action." - George Atwood, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, Rutgers University

"This volume represents a masterful integration of the psychological and philosophical literature that places concepts of individuality and selfhood within a social and cultural rather than an embodied perspective. As such, Persons in Context will prove to be an invaluable and unique resource for both the scholar and clinician." - Arnold H. Modell, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School