Routledge Psychoanalysis, Clinic and Context: Subjectivity, History and Autobiography

Psychoanalysis is a strange and mysterious practice. In his new book, Ian Parker offers insights into his own experiences, first as trainee then as analyst, the common assumptions about psychoanalysis which can be so misleading, as well as a map of the key debates in the field today. Beginning with his own history, at first avoiding psychoanalysis before training as a Lacanian, Parker moves on to explore the wider historical development of clinical practice, making an argument for the importance of language, culture and history in this process. The book offers commentary on the key schools of thought, and how they manifest in the practice of psychoanalysis in different regions around the world. Psychoanalysis, Clinic and Context will be of great value to practitioners and social theorists who want to know how psychoanalytic ideas play out in training and the clinic, for trainees and students of psychoanalysis or psychoanalytic psychotherapy, and for the general reader who wants to know what psychoanalysis is and how it works. Review "Professor Ian Parker, a significant intellectual, has much to teach us. This remarkably frank memoir – captivatingly written – will provide a very helpful insight into so many aspects of psychoanalysis – both its attractions and, even, its occasional repulsions." --Professor Brett Kahr, Senior Fellow at the Tavistock Institute of Medical Psychology, London "Ian Parker’s wide-ranging discussion of psychoanalysis in international contexts is dazzling in approach, tonality, and themes and presents readers with a history of the problems of response and change. Parker gives us a new approach to the psychoanalytic field through his longstanding development and this is a major contribution." –Professor Deborah Britzman, FRSC, York University, Canada "From his student years, Ian Parker began searching for alternatives to the shortcomings of mainstream psychology, and this book is the riveting story of how he grappled with the complex diversities of psychoanalytic thought, eventually becoming a Lacanian analyst himself. Parker’s erudite and pellucid prose makes this essential reading for anyone pondering the persisting potential and possible pitfalls of deploying psychoanalytic narratives, especially in political contexts, as he takes us on rollicking journeys through Brazil, Korea, Russia and Japan, while debating with queer theory, Judaism and Islam along the way." --Professor Lynne Segal, Birkbeck, author, Radical Happiness: Moments of Collective Joy About the Author Ian Parker is a psychoanalyst in Manchester, UK, Honorary Professorial Research Fellow at the University of Manchester, Secretary of Manchester Psychoanalytic Matrix, and President of the College of Psychoanalysts, UK.