Routledge The Stuff of Dreams: Anxiety, Fantasy, and Psychoanalysis

Many texts about anxiety are based either in the philosophical tradition or within the medical model under the guise of discussions about post-traumatic stress disorder. In the case of fantasy, however, the usual sources of discussion are in literary and cultural criticism. Bringing the two together offers the scope for a book with an original theme. The balance between clinical ideas, philosophical ideas and literary sources is aimed at keeping both potential audiences interested. Clinicians may find the idea of thinking 'dialectically' helpful with their patients. Although this approach is implied in both Freud and Lacan, this is the first book to put dialectics 'centre stage' in terms of understanding the patient's discourse. As far as general readers are concerned, most texts on fantasy do not 'home in' on the contribution of anxiety to the constantly changing content of fantasy.This book offers a new approach to the problem of anxiety. It suggests that our fantasies (both public and private) offer the key to understanding our anxieties and vice versa. Review "This is an arresting book that brings together ideas from popular culture, literature and psychoanalysis, while addressing the deeper philosophical question of the meaning we give to life in the face of the inevitability of death."--Prophecy Coles, Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist "Using ordinary language, [Hall] demonstrates the importance of our commonplace fantasies and anxieties. Furthermore, she writes very well--reading this book was a genuine pleasure for me. The combination of her clinical experience, cultural references and knowledge of differing psychoanalytic theories becomes more and more a rarity that we have to cherish."--Paul Verhaeghe, Chair of the Department of Psychoanalysis About the Author Kirsty Hall