The Theory of Psychoanalysis: Influential Analysts/Books along the Way ( Part III )

By this time in my career( early 2000's), I felt I had a fairly good grasp of Freud's Ego, Id, and Superego (Structural) Theory, and could move on to contemporary psychoanalysts who remained in the Freudian/Ego Psychology tradition. ( From here out I am going to use Modern Freudian to describe this school of thought known by the other names of Structural Theory and Ego Psychology.) The first book I read was Anna Freud's classic text, The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense ( 1936.) Anna Freud was the famous daughter of Sigmund Freud, and back in the day before the boundaries of present psychoanalysis were established, Freud analyzed her. She became a major leader in the British Psychoanalytic Society after her Father's death in 1939. When any one says, " You are getting defensive," or "my defenses were lowered" etc., they have Anna Freud to thank for that cultural knowledge. The next book I read in the post Sigmund Freud world of psychoanalysis was, Ego Psychology and the Problem of Adaptation by Heinz Hartman (1958.) Hartman advanced Modern Freudian Theory by integrating Evolution and Academic Psychology--the relevant sciences of his day--into his analytic theorizing. Next came the first book of the major contributor to Modern Freudian Theory today, and that was the classic text by Charles Brenner entitled, An Elementary Textbook of Psychoanalysis (1955.) Brenner was a major force in the New York Psychoanalytic Society at that time, and along with Jacob Arlow became the number one spokesperson for Modern Freudian Theory. Along with Arlow, Brenner's next book I read was Psychoanalytic Concepts and the Structural Theory (1964.) Here Brenner and Arlow put major emphasis on Freud's theory we use today of Ego, Id, and Superego, as opposed to his earlier Topographic Theory. The other classic text on Modern Freudian Theory was written in 1945 by Otto Fenichel. His book is, The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis, and in it he systematizes Freud's many volumes of work into a textbook for students in psychoanalytic training. I read it as well. The final two classic volumes in Modern Freudian Theory I read were the Mind in Conflict, and Psychoanalysis or Mind and Meaning. Both of these were also written by Charles Brenner. Mind in Conflict was written in 1979 and Psychoanalysis or Mind and Meaning was written in 2006. Both of these texts are considered classics in the Modern Freudian theoretical world.(Interestingly I got to hear Brenner lecture before he died. It was at a meeting of the American Psychoanalytic Association. I asked him if he believed in tbe preoedipal stage!! As I move forward in these posts I will talk about other Analysts I have met and dialogued with that have meant a great deal to me.) Today's Modern Freudians who follow Brenner, Arlow and others are called Modern Conflict Theorists, yet again another name for Modern Freudians. Of course there are many other Modern Freudians that I read and studied but I am not going to list all their books! I will share a few names: Sandor Abend, Dale Boesky, Arnold Rothstein, Paul Gray, Fred Busch, Paul DeWald, Leo Rangell,Glen Gabbard, Susan Vaughn, Fred Pine, Harold Blum, Salman Aktar, Otto Kernberg, Peter Fonsgy, Nancy McWilliam, Richard Kessler, Antonio Damasio, Mark Solms, Lawerence Blum, Martin Blum, Steven Ellman, etc. ( I was fortunate to hear these, along with many others I had read, speak at The American Psychoanalytic Association or the Virginia Psychoanalytic Society.) In my next post I will talk about my studies in Object Relations Theory.