Are Your Patients Phenomenal?

Reviews the book, Phenomenology, Uncertainty, and Care in the Therapeutic Encounter by Mark Leffert (see record 2015-42340-000). Psychoanalysis is often seen as an insular and self-absorbed world. This is partly due to the culture that grew up around Freud and his circle, and partly because of the m...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPsycCritiques Vol. 61; no. 8; p. No Pagination Specified
Main Author Cox, Geoffrey M.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published American Psychological Association 22.02.2016
Subjects
Human
Phenomenology
Psychoanalysis
Uncertainty
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Summary:Reviews the book, Phenomenology, Uncertainty, and Care in the Therapeutic Encounter by Mark Leffert (see record 2015-42340-000). Psychoanalysis is often seen as an insular and self-absorbed world. This is partly due to the culture that grew up around Freud and his circle, and partly because of the mysterious theoretical constructs that the discipline employs. With this book, Leffert tries to let some sunlight into the lodge. In what he declares to be a “radical and subversive book” (p. 1), he introduces several controversial theses. Among these are (a) that a phenomenological approach can and should replace the highly structured ontological framework of psychoanalysis, (b) that psychoanalysts are fallible, and (c) that psychoanalysts should offer care to their patients, not just insight. This review discusses these propositions in order. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
ISSN:1554-0138
1554-0138
DOI:10.1037/a0040137