Theoretical foundations of psychoanalysis

The famous British psychoanalyst Wilfred Bion compared psychoanalytic knowledge of the human mind to a single stripe on a tiger's coat, which we can hardly perceive and truly know as a whole. The author of the monograph Theoretical Foundations of Psychoanalysis attempts to document the efforts of several generations of psychoanalysts to find the “tiger” – above all, to understand the vast areas of the human unconscious that transcend conscious experience and their influence on behaviour and experience. She notes the shift from an “archaeological” search in the depths of the human psyche to the contemporary emphasis on relationality as the main source of knowledge and therapeutic change, and tries to capture the multi-layered nature of psychoanalytic theories. In a non-judgemental and erudite way, she presents findings that rid psychoanalysis of the various negative connotations with which both the lay and professional public often associate it.

The first chapters of the book present some of the key themes from Freud's work, including theories of psychosexual development, narcissism, drives, affects or perversion. Subsequent chapters are devoted to defence mechanisms, Freud's important collaborators and the main directions of post-Freudian psychoanalysis, which include Ego Psychology, the British and American schools of object relations, or Kohut's Self Psychology. The theme of the following part of the publication is the theoretical basis of psychoanalysis as a therapeutic method, focusing on its technical rules, therapeutic relationship and process. A separate chapter is devoted to relational psychoanalysis, which reflects postmodern viewpoints emphasising the historical, cultural, value-based and linguistic conditionality of knowledge in the social sciences. The final part deals with the psychoanalytic concept of sibling relationships.

The complicated psychoanalytic theories are presented in the monograph systematically, clearly and in a readable way. The text is supplemented by numerous excerpts from primary sources. The book is intended primarily for students of psychology, anthropology, sociology and other human sciences. However, it is also suitable for those interested in psychoanalysis from the wider public.