A Brief Introduction to Psychoanalytic Theory
Book Details
- Publisher : Bloomsbury Academic
- Published : February 2026
- Cover : Paperback
- Pages : 280
- Category :
Culture and Psychoanalysis - Category 2 :
Psychoanalysis - Catalogue No : 33320
- ISBN 13 : 9781350534063
- ISBN 10 : 1350534064
Also by Stephen Frosh
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Psychoanalytic theory remains hugely influential to our understanding of the mind and human behaviour. It provides a rich source of ideas for therapeutic practice while offering dramatic insights for the study of culture and society, with applications that extend across film, literature and politics. Taking you step-by-step through Freud's original ideas and their evolution, this book explores the birth of psychoanalysis and provides a clear account of fundamental psychoanalytic concepts.
New to this edition:
· A new chapter on class, gender and race
· Expanded sections on neuropsychoanalysis, relational theory and trauma
· Updated throughout to offer a succinct exploration of the history, development and current standing of psychoanalysis
Written by a highly respected authority in the field, this updated edition is essential reading for trainees in counselling and psychotherapy, as well as for students across the arts, humanities and social sciences.
Reviews and Endorsements
This most impressive book should be welcomed not only by all coming new to the detailed study of psychoanalysis but also by experienced clinicians and trainees from many psychotherapeutic approaches.
Review of the first edition, Therapy Today
Stephen Frosh... has written an intelligent, informed and engaging book. ...It is eloquent, clear without being simplistic, erudite without being pompous. Frosh understands his subject matter and has a facility for explanation.
Review of the first edition, Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy
Few can render psychoanalysis with such remarkable accessibility as Stephen Frosh. This introduction blends conceptual clarity and contemporary reflections, making a complex subject engaging for anyone wishing to explore it.
Nini Kerr, Senior Lecturer in Counselling and Psychotherapy, University of Edinburgh, UK
Table of Contents
Preface to the Second Edition
PART ONE: FREUDIAN THEORY
Chapter 1: The Appeal of Psychoanalysis
Chapter 2: Main Schools of Psychoanalysis
Chapter 3: What Freud was Trying to Do
Chapter 4: The Freudian Unconscious
Chapter 5: Sex, aggression, life and death
Chapter 6: Repression and Other Defences
Chapter 7: The Structure of the Mind: id, ego, superego.
Chapter 8: Oedipus, Masculinity, Femininity
Chapter 9: Psychopathology: What Makes Us Sad (and Mad)
PART TWO: DEVELOPMENTS IN PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY
Chapter 10: Psychoanalysts after Freud
Chapter 11: Attachment, Mentalisation and Neuropsychoanalysis
Chapter 12: The Principles of Object Relations Theory
Chapter 13: Mourning, Melancholia, Loss and Trauma
Chapter 14: The Paranoid-Schizoid Position and Other Extremes
Chapter 15: Projection and Psychosis
Chapter 16: Imaginary, Symbolic and Real: Lacanian psychoanalysis
PART THREE: THEORY OF THERAPY
Chapter 17: Interpretation and Transference
Chapter 18: Countertransference and Intersubjectivity
PART FOUR: WIDER APPLICATIONS
Chapter 19: Psychoanalysis, Film and Literature
Chapter 20: Politics and Society
Chapter 21: Class, Gender and Race
Conclusion
Recommended Reading
About the Author(s)
Stephen Frosh is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, an Academic Associate of the British Psychoanalytical Society, a Founding Member of the Association of Psychosocial Studies, and an Honorary Member of the Institute of Group Analysis. He is Emeritus Professor in the Department of Psychosocial Studies at Birkbeck, University of London, UK, and was a Visiting Professor at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa, and at the University of São Paulo, Brazil. He is the author of over 20 books on psychosocial studies and psychoanalysis, including A Brief Introduction to Psychoanalytic Theory; Psychoanalysis Outside the Clinic; The Politics of Psychoanalysis; Hate and the Jewish Science: Anti-Semitism, Nazism and Psychoanalysis; Hauntings; Those Who Come After: Postmemory, Acknowledgement and Forgiveness and most recently, Antisemitism and Racism: Ethical Challenges for Psychoanalysis, published by Bloomsbury in 2023. He is co-editor of the Palgrave Handbook of Psychosocial Studies and the Routledge International Handbook of Psychoanalysis and Jewish Studies. His most recent book is How to be Real: A Survival Guide in Challenging Times.
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