David Tuckett

Forthcoming:
Psychoanalysis Comparable & Incomparable:
The Evolution of a Method to Describe and Compare Psychoanalytic Approaches
Edited by David Tuckett (London: Routledge, 2008)

How do we know when what is happening between two people should be called psychoanalysis? What is a psychoanalytic process and how do we know when one is taking place?

Psychoanalysis Comparable and Incomparable describes the rationale and ongoing development of a six year programme of highly original meetings conducted by the European Psychoanalytic Federation Working party on comparative clinical methods. The project comprises over seventy cases discussed by more than five hundred experienced psychoanalysts over the course of sixty workshops.

Authored by a group of leading European psychoanalysts, this book explores ways for psychoanalysts using different approaches to learn from each other when they present their work to each other, and provides tools for the individual practitioner to examine and improve his own approach. As described in detail in its pages, sticking to the task led to some surprising experiences, raising fundamental questions about the way clinical discussion and supervision are conducted in psychoanalysis.

Well known by many in the psychoanalytic community and the object of much interest and debate, this project is described by those who have had the closest contact with it and will satisfy a widely held curiosity in psychoanalysts and psychotherapists throughout the world.

About the Authors

The authors of this book are a group of leading European Psychoanalysts asked by the European Psychoanalytic Federation (EPF) to form a working party devoted to understanding and comparing the different ways psychoanalyst work. They include among their number the current and former Editor of the International Journal of Psychoanalysis and the former editor of the Revue Francaise de Psychoanalyse. Between them they have contributed numerous books and scientific articles in English and other languages.

Arnold Cooper on Psychoanalysis Comparable and Incomparable

"Perhaps the most critical task for psychoanalysis today is to distinguish a pluralism of valuable ideas from a state of sloppy disarray. Psychoanalysts of different regions and schools have increasing difficulty distinguishing a diversity of valid ideas from mere babble. This extraordinary volume describes the enormous progress made by an ongoing international scientific effort to help analysts identify a core of the psychoanalytic process that is compatible with the variety of theories and techniques that now exists in the international community. By implication, this effort will also draw limits to what is properly considered psychoanalysis. A key element in this project has been the education of groups of analysts to listen to clinical material without the usual supervisory stance; rather, the effort is to understand the implicit analytic concepts of the presenter.

I know of no project more important than this one for the future of psychoanalysis. Each chapter is filled with ideas, and every working analyst will come away from this book stimulated to think in new and interesting ways about his or her own clinical activity".

Table of Contents

Birksted Breen, Introductory Foreword. Tuckett, On Difference, Discussing Differences and Comparison: An Introduction. Denis, In Praise of Empiricism. Bohm, Before the Method, Underestimating the Problem and the Meeting in Prague. Jemstedt, The Sorrento Experience: Chaos Replaced by Too Much Structure. Hinz, Some Reflections on the Problems of Comparison and Difference in the Light of Doubts and Enthusiasms. Tuckett, Reflection and Evolution: Developing the 2-Step Method. Birksted Breen, Ferro, Mariotti, Work in Progress: Using the 2-Step Method. Schubert, Experiences of Participating: Group Processes and Group Dynamics. Basile, Ferro, Some Surprises: A New Style for Case Discussion? Tuckett, Reflection and Comparison: Some Final Remarks. Tuckett, Appendix: The Origins of the EPF "New" Scientific Policy and Early History of the Working Party.