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Distinguishing psychoanalysis, as a search for truth, from suggestion, as a cure for symptoms, this book addresses the scientific status of psychoanalysis. Citing research into the relationship of infants to their caretakers, the author discusses evidence that unconscious communication is present from birth, and that this form of communication plays a central role in psychoanalysis at a level below that of verbal communication.
Informed by Bion's ideas of containment, group functioning and the fundamental psychological need for truth, this book asserts that psychoanalysis, based solely on the search for truth, has, among all psychological interventions, both a unique claim to scientific status and a unique ability to foster psychological development.
Exploring the relationship between unconscious communication, group dynamics, containment and psychological development in a highly original way, Bion and Thoughts Too Deep for Words: Psychoanalysis, Suggestion, and the Language of the Unconscious will be of great interest to psychotherapists, psychologists and psychoanalysts who are interested in the relationship between psychoanalysis and suggestion.
List of contents
Preface
Chapter 1: Song-and-dance
Chapter 2: Song-and-dance and the internal world
Chapter 3: The dynamics of unconscious communication
Chapter 4: Psychoanalysis and suggestion
Chapter 5: Psychoanalysis beyond suggestion
Chapter 6: The analyst's Oedipal dilemma
Chapter 7: Psychoanalysis and science
Chapter 8: The craft of psychoanalysis
Chapter 9: Psychoanalysis and play
Chapter 10: Containment, self-containment and identification
Chapter 11: Finding the context
Chapter 12: Summary and conclusions
About the author
Robert Caper, MD, is the author of three books and numerous articles on psychoanalysis. He has lectured in countries all around the world and currently resides in New York City and Vermont where he practices and teaches.
Summary
This book addresses a range of fundamental questions around the nature of Psychoanalysis. It distinguishes how Psychoanalysis differs from other forms of therapy, explores the ways in which insights into the unconscious can be used to support and help people, and asks questions around any claim for scientific validity.
