Description
Book SynopsisSigmund Freud: The Basics is an easy-to-read introduction to the life and ideas of Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis and a key figure in the history of psychology.
Janet Sayers provides an accessible overview of Freudâs early life and work, beginning with his childhood. Her book includes the stories of his most famous patients: Dora, Little Hans, the Rat Man, Judge Schreber, and the Wolf Man. It also discusses Freudâs key ideas such as psychosexual development, the Oedipus complex, and psychoanalytic treatment. Sayers then covers Freudâs later work, with a description of his observations about depression, trauma and the death instinct, as well as his 1923 theory of the id, ego, and superego. The book includes a glossary of key terms and concludes with examples of how psychoanalysis has been applied to the study of art, literature, film, anthropology, religion, sociology, gender politics, and racism.
Sigmund Freud: The Basics offers an essential intro
Trade Review
"An enjoyable and informative introduction to Freud’s work, illustrated with pithy examples of his own reasoning which artfully encourages the reader to learn more about psychoanalysis’s founding theorist and practitioner." – Susie Orbach, whose most recent book is In Therapy – The Unfolding Story
"This book works through the fascinating string of ideas which Freud produced in trying to find access to the hidden unconscious area of the mind by which we all live. With this introductory text Janet Sayers provides comprehensive coverage of the many areas of human life and experience considered by Freud including his false starts, detours, and ways in which both he and his followers addressed issues in developmental and abnormal psychology as well as in the arts, social sciences, and in religion too." – Bob Hinshelwood, psychoanalyst and emeritus professor, University of Essex
'An enjoyable and informative introduction to Freud’s work, illustrated with pithy examples of his own reasoning which artfully encourages the reader to learn more about psychoanalysis’s founding theorist and practitioner.' – Susie Orbach, author of Fat is a Feminist Issue and many other books, most recently In Therapy: The Unfolding Story
'This book works through the fascinating string of ideas which Freud produced in trying to find access to the hidden unconscious area of the mind by which we all live. With this introductory text Janet Sayers provides comprehensive coverage of the many areas of human life and experience considered by Freud including his false starts, detours, and ways in which both he and his followers addressed issues in developmental and abnormal psychology as well as in the arts, social sciences, and in religion too.' – Bob Hinshelwood, psychoanalyst and emeritus professor, University of Essex
"Overall, in a relatively short space, Sayers has written a balanced, scholarly and accessible introduction to Freud, which I think will appeal to students, as well as psychodynamic and psychoanalytic trainees." - Stephen Crawford, British Journal of Psychotherapy
Table of ContentsList of figures Acknowledgements Preface Part I: Pre-psychoanalytic Freud 1. Childhood and youth 2. Talking cure 3. Resistance and repression 4. Repressed abuse 5. Wishful fantasy Conclusions to Part I Part II: Unconscious-conscious dynamics 6. Dreams 7. Freudian slips 8. Jokes 9. Sex Conclusions to Part II Part III: Psychoanalytic case studies 10. Dora’s dreams 11. Hans’s phobia 12. The rat man’s obsession 13. Schreber’s schizophrenia 14. The wolf man’s nightmare Conclusions to Part III Part IV: Consolidating psychoanalysis 15. Freud vs. Jung 16. Sex and repression 17. Freudian symbols 18. More about sex 19. Symptom formation 20. Psychoanalytic treatment Conclusions to Part IV Part V: War and its psychoanalytic aftermath 21. Mourning and melancholia 22. Trauma and the death instinct 23. Oedipus, castration, penis envy 24. Id-ego-superego Conclusions to Part V Part VI: Beyond clinicalpsychoanalysis 25. Art, literature, film 26. Anthropology 27. Religion 28. Sociology 29. Gender politics 30. Racism Conclusions to Part VI Glossary References Index
