In The Unconscious: A Contemporary Introduction, Joseph Newirth presents a critical and comparative analysis of the unconscious and its evolution from a positivist to a postmodern frame of reference.

This book presents five theories, each of which offers different and important conceptualizations of the unconscious, and each of which contains a rich palate of ideas through which to approach clinical work. These psychoanalytic theories are thought of as spokes on a wheel emanating from the center of Freud’s concept of the unconscious. In addition to presenting Freud’s development of the unconscious, Newirth includes discussions of interpersonal/relational psychoanalysis; developmental approaches to the unconscious, including Kohut, Winnicott, and Fonagy; Kleinian approaches to the unconscious; and linguistic theories of the unconscious including Matte Blanco and Lacan.

The last chapter illustrates the use of contemporary psychoanalytic concepts in the clinical work with a contemporary patient. The book encourages a comparative view of psychoanalytic theory and technique and aims to move to a more useful, generalizable concept of the unconscious for the contemporary patient.

Publisher: Routledge

Published: June 2023

Format: Paperback

Pages: 124

Dimensions: 12.9 x 0.71 x 19.8 cm