Psychoanalysis as an Ethical Process

In Psychoanalysis as an Ethical Process, Robert Drozek has made a major contribution to the body of psychoanalytic knowledge. The ambition of the book is nothing short of a compelling attempt to update our understanding of the psychoanalytic change process in the light of the relational turn in psychoanalysis. If we take psychoanalytic psychology seriously as a project, then the concepts with which the author forces us to engage once more occupy pride of place. The issues of culpability, free will, dignity and the potential to genuinely act in the interest of another person can again become central as we contemplate the reason for doing things in the clinical setting, as well as outside it. The book offers a novel, creative and scholarly understanding of the complexity psychoanalysts willingly but sometimes naively enter into as they engage in long-term intensive psychological therapy with the individuals who have sought their assistance. Drozek provides the clarity of thinking that we all need to be able to engage in this process in a reflective, productive and satisfying way. -From the foreword by Peter Fonagy, PhD, FBA, FMedSci, FAcSS, Professor of Contemporary Psychoanalysis and Developmental Science, University College London, UK Robert Drozek, in this splendid new book, argues that psychoanalysis is at heart an ethical process. He persuasively convinces the reader that therapeutic change has an ethical component to it of which we may or may not be aware. He touches on the role of dignity for both members of the dyad, value as the native tongue of psychoanalysis, and the sources of motivation for change. Throughout the book he provides detailed clinical material that helps the reader grasp how he translates his thinking into what one does in the give-and-take of the analytic setting. I highly recommend this superb new book to both analysts and analytic therapists. -Glen O. Gabbard, MD, author of Boundaries and Boundary Violations in Psychoanalysis Psychoanalysis as an Ethical Process is an inspiring and important reconsideration of relational psychoanalytic theory, which shines light into the crucial motivation of intersubjectivity. It highlights the need to ground our clinical work in the conscious reflection on the unconditional value of the other, that is dignity, and this in turn becomes the basis for radical transformation of our self- and other-awareness. Drozek provides an exceptionally lucid narrative, replete with clinical examples, about the way in which ethical thinking is integral to psychoanalysis both as theory and practice. In so doing, he makes tangible for us the unity of these elements, and removes many obstacles to making theory an exciting and uplifting part of our process. -Jessica Benjamin, PhD, Faculty, New York University Postdoctoral Psychology Program and the Stephen Mitchell Relational Studies Center, New York; author of Beyond Doer and Done To