A SHORT INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOANALYSIS

PREFACE

What is psychoanalysis? There is no short or simple answer to this question, which concerns a complex and multi-faceted field of learning. In addition to provoking lively curiosity, psychoanalysis has become surrounded by much anxiety, misconception, prejudice and even myth. This book aims to give a succinct and accessible account of psychoanalysis, its theory, practice, history and applications, and to describe the psychoanalytic profession today. Psychology, psychiatry, psychotherapy, psychoanalysis: how do they differ? The word root ‘psych’ comes from the Greek, meaning the soul or spirit as distinct from the body. In modern usage psyche usually refers to the mind. Psychology, then, is the study of all aspects of the mind and its functioning. It includes, for example, the study of perception, memory, thinking and of the working of complex psychophysical skills such as driving or operating machinery. Nearly everyone is interested in minds, their own and others’, but more formally psychology is an academic discipline, a branch of science, that can be studied to degree level and beyond. Academic psychology in principle includes the study of psychoanalysis, although in practice it is only a small part of many academic courses. Clinical psychology is a branch of psychology concerned with helping people with psychological difficulties. Clinical psychologists have undertaken a degree in psychology followed by further training. They cannot prescribe drugs but assess patients and use various sorts of psychological treatment.