Alain Gibeault

Paths of Symbolization explores philosophical and psychoanalytic questions about the concept of symbolization. Alain Gibeault connects symbolization with concepts like enactment and the practice of imaginative play. With reference to Freud’s metapsychology and the French context specifically, Gibeault explores the significance of symbolization in analytic work. This book explores the theoretical questions raised by the concept of symbolization in the history of psychoanalytic thought and clarifies what is at stake when symbolization is impaired—particularly in the treatment of psychotic, borderline, and neurotic states. Through a wealth of clinical material, the author illustrates how symbolization mediates between inner and outer realities, enabling the emergence of thought, representation, and transformation. By comparing these cases, readers are invited to grasp the specific therapeutic contributions of French psychoanalysis in fostering psychic integration and the working through of unconscious conflict. Paths of Symbolization will be of great interest to psychoanalysts in practice and in training, particularly those looking to better understand theoretical, clinical and technical aspects of French psychoanalysis. It will also be relevant for academics and scholars of psychoanalytic studies, other areas of mental health and philosophy.

Paths of Symbolization explores philosophical and psychoanalytic questions about the concept of symbolization. Alain Gibeault connects symbolization with concepts like enactment and the practice of imaginative play. With reference to Freud’s metapsychology and the French context specifically, Gibeault explores the significance of symbolization in analytic work. This book explores the theoretical questions raised by the concept of symbolization in the history of psychoanalytic thought and clarifies what is at stake when symbolization is impaired—particularly in the treatment of psychotic, borderline, and neurotic states. Through a wealth of clinical material, the author illustrates how symbolization mediates between inner and outer realities, enabling the emergence of thought, representation, and transformation. By comparing these cases, readers are invited to grasp the specific therapeutic contributions of French psychoanalysis in fostering psychic integration and the working through of unconscious conflict. Paths of Symbolization will be of great interest to psychoanalysts in practice and in training, particularly those looking to better understand theoretical, clinical and technical aspects of French psychoanalysis. It will also be relevant for academics and scholars of psychoanalytic studies, other areas of mental health and philosophy.

How does a psychoanalysis begin? What goes on when analyst and prospective analysand meet for the first time, and what processes are activated to make the project for an analysis possible? This unique contribution to the surprisingly sparse literature on this most essential aspect of the psychoanalytical practitioner’s work, is the clinical companion to Initiating Psychoanalysis: Perspectives, also part of the ‘Teaching’ Series of the New Library of Psychoanalysis. Replete with clinical illustrations, this book is based on the findings of an ambitious research project on first interviews carried out from 2004 to 2016 by an international group of psychoanalysts, the Working Party on Initiating Psychoanalysis (WPIP) of the European Psychoanalytic Federation. The authors, all members of the Investigative Team, are senior psychoanalysts from member societies of the European Psychoanalytic Federation, all with extensive experience in the practice and teaching of psychoanalytic consultation.Psychoanalysts and analytic therapists, in particular those in training or setting up their practice, will find Beginning Analysis to be essential reading in deepening their understanding of how analysand and analyst arrive at the decision to begin analysis.

How does a psychoanalysis begin? What goes on when analyst and prospective analysand meet for the first time, and what processes are activated to make the project for an analysis possible? This unique contribution to the surprisingly sparse literature on this most essential aspect of the psychoanalytical practitioner’s work, is the clinical companion to Initiating Psychoanalysis: Perspectives, also part of the ‘Teaching’ Series of the New Library of Psychoanalysis. Replete with clinical illustrations, this book is based on the findings of an ambitious research project on first interviews carried out from 2004 to 2016 by an international group of psychoanalysts, the Working Party on Initiating Psychoanalysis (WPIP) of the European Psychoanalytic Federation. The authors, all members of the Investigative Team, are senior psychoanalysts from member societies of the European Psychoanalytic Federation, all with extensive experience in the practice and teaching of psychoanalytic consultation.Psychoanalysts and analytic therapists, in particular those in training or setting up their practice, will find Beginning Analysis to be essential reading in deepening their understanding of how analysand and analyst arrive at the decision to begin analysis.