Bøger af Christopher Bollas

In Christopher Bollas' Streams of Consciousness, a wide spectrum of theory and practice are explored, sometimes appearing in simple fragments, sometimes via complex lines of thinking that are developed in detail over time. As Bollas revisits the received truths and dogmas of his profession - including his own prejudices - he demonstrates the value of open, intelligent uncertainty. Interspersed with clinical preoccupations, which highlight the richness as well as the bewildering complexity of psychoanalysis, we find other ideas that reflect his early life as political activist, literature professor, and cultural critic. Throughout, the notebooks are enriched by references to the work of numerous writers in many fields who have influenced his thinking. This work is essential reading for all with an interest in psychoanalysis which will enrich both academic study and clinical practice.

In Christopher Bollas' Streams of Consciousness, a wide spectrum of theory and practice are explored, sometimes appearing in simple fragments, sometimes via complex lines of thinking that are developed in detail over time. As Bollas revisits the received truths and dogmas of his profession - including his own prejudices - he demonstrates the value of open, intelligent uncertainty. Interspersed with clinical preoccupations, which highlight the richness as well as the bewildering complexity of psychoanalysis, we find other ideas that reflect his early life as political activist, literature professor, and cultural critic. Throughout, the notebooks are enriched by references to the work of numerous writers in many fields who have influenced his thinking. This work is essential reading for all with an interest in psychoanalysis which will enrich both academic study and clinical practice.

Christopher Bollas proposes ordinary conversation as a distinct literary genre that shares certain formal qualities with poetry, prose, and drama. We converse with others and with ourselves, and he capitalises on the unique irony of this convergence, often to hilarious effect, but with a disturbing undertone that opens new perspectives.

Basing his view on the object relations theories of the "British School" of psychoanalysis, Christopher Bollas examines the human subject's memories of its earliest experiences (during infancy and childhood) of the object, whether it be mother, father, or self. He explains in well-written and non-technical language how the object can affect the child, or "cast in shadow," without the child being able to process this relation through mental representations of language.

Essential Aloneness presents a series of lectures on DW Winnicott delivered by Christopher Bollas in the 1980s to students and staff of the Institute of Child Neuropsychiatry at the University of Rome. One of Winnicott's literary editors, Bollas brings a unique perspective in real time to the challenges Winnicott's thinking posed to the psychoanalytical, literary, and intellectual culture in the United Kingdom and abroad in the decade after Winnicott's death.

In Being a Character, Christopher Bollas argued that Freud's vision of the dream process is a model for all unconscious mental experience. In Cracking Up he extends his exploration of the inner world of human experience and suggests that the rhythm of that experience is vital to individual creativity. It allows us to develop what the author calls a 'separate sense', which we use to assess the meanings of our own experiences and also to attune ourselves sympathetically to the lives of other people.In this original and thought-provoking book, Bollas examines how people educate one another in the idioms of their unconscious lives and considers the nature and consequences of the traumas that inhibit the freedom to do this. He studies what we mean by the past - is it unchangeable or can history be a creative, open understanding of experience? We come to know who we are by giving form and meaning to our past - yet what do we mean by the self? Bollas' answer suggests yet more ways in which the 'separate sense' expresses each person's unique qualities.

It is important to point out that these essays are about character types; it is not to suggest that all borderlines, narcissists or manic depressives are the same. Everyone is an individual and are who they are for many different reasons. What they have in common is a typical relation between their subjectivity and the world they inhabit. In other words, Christopher Bollas has identified the axioms that these individuals share. Following a discussion of the features of each type, the axioms are delivered in the character's own voice. By placing ourselves within their own logic, we can begin to identify and empathise with them. At the root of all character disorders there is mental pain and each disorder is an intelligent attempt to solve an existential problem. If the clinician can grasp their specific intelligence and help the analysand to understand this, then a natural process of healing can begin. Three Characters is a masterclass based on decades of lectures presented to psychoanalysts, analytical psychologists, and psychotherapists, and is a must-read for all psychoanalytic enthusiasts.

Hysteria has disappeared from contemporary culture only insofar as it has been subjected to a repression through the popular diagnosis of "e;borderline personality disorder"e;. In this text, psychoanalyst Christopher Bollas offers a history of hysteria that weaves its well-known features - repressed sexual ideas; indifference to conversion; over-identification with the other - into the hysteric form. Through a rereading of Freud, Bollas argues that sexuality in itself is traumatic to all children, as it "e;destroys"e; the relation to the mother, transfiguring her from "e;mamma"e;, the infant`s caregiver, to "e;mother"e;, the child`s and father`s sex object. For the hysteric this recognition is endlessly traumatic and the hysterical personality forms itself into an organized opposition to this knowledge. "e;Hysteria"e; brings new perspectives to long-standing ideas, making enlightening reading for students and professionals involved in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy alike, as well as the lay reader who takes an interest in the formation of personality in western culture.

"First published by Free Association Books, 1989."

Bollas aboga elocuentemente por el retorno a nuestra comprension de como funciona el psicoanalisis freudiano de inconsciente a inconsciente. El incumplimiento de los supuestos basicos de Freud acerca de la escucha psicoanalitica se ha traducido en el abandono de la busqueda de la "e;la logica de la secuencia"e;, que Freud consideraba la forma principal en la que expresamos el pensamiento inconsciente.En dos extensas entrevistas y en ensayos posteriores, todos ellos realizados durante el ano 2006, seguimos la forma en que Christopher Bollas explora su desafio mas reciente y radical al psicoanalisis contemporaneo. El Momento Freudiano, Bollas argumenta, responde a una idea filogenetica preconcebida que ha existido desde hace miles de anos. La invencion del psicoanalisis concreta esta preconcepcion e instituye un profundo avance en las relaciones humanas.La propuesta de Bollas de que usemos la imagen de la partitura sinfonica para imaginar mejor la articulacion inconsciente abre un nuevo camino conceptual en la comprension de la complejidad del pensamiento inconsciente. Su critica acida de la interpretacion de la transferencia aqui y ahora pondra a prueba una praxis que esta muy extendida actualmente en todo el mundo analitico. Es dificil tener acceso literario a dicho tipo de trabajo en progreso, pero aporta una vision estimulante sobre el funcionamiento deuna de las mentes mas brillantes de la historia del psicoanalisis.Esta nueva edicion contiene el emotivo Prefacio de Andre Green, con su tributo personal a la obra de Bollas y a su duradera amistad con el autor. Como Green comenta en el Prefacio, "e;este ensayo es de enorme importancia para el presente y el futuro del psicoanalisis. Es la obra de un artesano fabulosamente entrenado en el trabajo del psicoanalisis"e;.

Argues for a return to our understanding of how Freudian psychoanalysis works unconscious to unconscious. In this book, the author also argues, realizes a phylogenetic preconception that has existed for tens of thousands of years.

In this original and thought-provoking book, Bollas examines how people educate one another in the idioms of their unconscious lives and considers the nature and consequences of the traumas that inhibit the freedom to do this.

Taking Freud's model of dreamwork as a model for all unconscious thinking, Bollas argues that we dreamwork ourselves into becoming who we are. He illustrates how patient and analyst can use such unconscious processes to alter self experience.

Many schizophrenics experience their condition as one of radical incarceration, mind-altering medications, isolation, and dehumanization. At a time when the treatment of choice is anti-psychotic medication, world-renowned psychoanalyst Christopher Bollas asserts that schizophrenics can be helped by much more humane treatments, and that they have a chance to survive and even reverse the process if they have someone to talk to them regularly and for a sustained period, soon after their first breakdown. In this sensitive and evocative narrative, he draws on his personal experiences working with schizophrenics since the 1960's. He offers his interpretation of how schizophrenia develops, typically in the teens, as an adaptation in the difficult transition to adulthood. With tenderness, Bollas depicts schizophrenia as an understandable way of responding to our precariousness in a highly unpredictable world. He celebrates the courage of the children he has worked with and reminds us that the wisdom inherent in human beings-to turn to conversation with others when in distress-is the fundamental foundation of any cure for human conflict.

Christopher Bollas takes the reader right to the heart of psychotherapy, examining the mysterious aspects of the self that are revealed by the free associative process.

Uses detailed studies of real clinical practice to illuminate a theory of psychoanalysis which privileges the human impulse to question. This title includes transcripts of real analytical sessions, accompanied by parallel commentaries which highlight key aspects of the free associative method in practice.