Description
Book SynopsisIn a sequence of short, condensed entries, Ferenczi’s diary records self-critical reflections on conventional psychoanalytic theory—as well as criticisms of his own experiments with technique—and his obstinate struggle to divest himself and psychoanalysis of professional hypocrisy.
Trade ReviewCompelling… Ferenczi was an innovator, an experimenter, someone who was always trying new approaches to the treatment of mental illness, even when his unorthodox techniques placed him in opposition to his analyst and mentor, Sigmund Freud. -- Stuart Schneiderman * New York Times Book Review *
Allows the public interested in such matters to assess, far better than before, the range of [Ferenczi’s] professional gifts and the depth of his psychological vulnerability… A welcome addition to the growing number of significant texts illuminating the history of psychoanalysis. -- Peter Gay * London Review of Books *
The
Diary is the work of a sane mind in full possession of its powers and gives us insight into the day-to-day thoughts of a practitioner whose status as a creative innovator is probably unsurpassed since Freud. It is a very moving book. One is continually amazed by the courage of the man. -- Peter Lomas * Times Literary Supplement *
Freud criticised his one-time favourite son for advocating the ‘kissing technique’; Ferenczi believed that ‘only sympathy heals’. This is the 1932 record of his analyses. His work was faltering, doubting, and quite possibly, healing. -- David Flusfeder * The Week *
Table of ContentsEditor's Note Acknowledgments Introduction by Judith Dupont Abbreviations The Clinical Diary of Sandor Ferenczi Draft Introduction by Michael Balint Notes for a Preface by Michael Balint Index
