The Languages of Psychoanalysis

The Languages of Psychoanalysis is the culmination of Gedo's many splendid theoretical contributions that aim at integrating contemporary developments within psychoanalysis with the yield from all the sciences that impinge on it and enrich it. His reconsideration of virtually every aspect of analysis, in particular the variety of 'voices' and affective experiences of analysands, enables him to provide a theoretical basis for both the psychology and the biology of motivation. Thus, he gives us an outline of, and an introduction to, a future psychoanalysis that is open to all scientific, semantic, poetic, musical, and any number of other possible sources and insights, while remaining true to its biological roots. - Henry Krystal, M.D., Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute In this remarkable volume, Gedo takes us on a whirlwind guided tour into the future of psychoanalysis. It is a future where clinical psychoanalysis draws its sustenance from the several psychologies that underlie it rather than rusty metapsychology and where artificial dichotomies (such as mind-brain) collapse under the force of rigorous scientific thinking. He depicts a clinical world where evidence truly counts toward assessing value, where data drive theories rather than vice-versa, and where analysands are provided with treatment rather than ideology. His hierarchical model bridged clinical psychoanalysis with contemporary brain, cognitive, and developmental psychologies. This future is Gedo's fervent wish, and the outlining of its possibilities is his signal contribution. His ambitious intensity on behalf of his discipline further stamps The Languages of Psychoanalysis as critically significant for contemporary psychoanalysis. - Arnold Wilson, Ph.D., Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research