Interpretation in Couple and Family Psychoanalysis

Book excerpt: This collection of contemporary clinically-oriented papers covers a range of theoretical approaches to the fundamentally important technical issue of interpretation. It offers thought-provoking, cross-cultural clinical perspectives about interpretation with illustrations from cutting edge clinical practice with couples and families. Divided into three sections, the first part of the book examines interpretation within the broader field of psychoanalysis, and notes how it has been applied to couple and family psychoanalysis. Part II considers the current use of interpretation with couples, including how it informs assessment, while Part III focuses on its application with families and considers a broad range of key topics, including the nature of family, social and intergenerational links, the arrival of a newborn, same sex couples’ families, bereavement in a family, and families with adolescent children. Each chapter includes a lively discussion piece. Interpretation in Couple and Family Psychoanalysis: Cross-Cultural Perspectives represents a major contribution to the field of couple and family psychoanalysis. It reflects the fruits of an unparalleled era of global collaboration and the resultant re-shaping of approaches to clinical practice with couples and families. Mental health professionals dealing with couples and families will find it to have immediate relevance to their clinical work, either in their institutional or private practice.