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By (author) Fink, Bruce

Short /annotation:
This is an invaluable guide to Lacanian psychoanalysis, how it’s done, and how it differs from other forms of therapy. While elucidating Lacan’s theory, the book does so from the perspective of the practitioner faced with pressing questions of diagnosis, which therapeutic stance to adopt, how to involve the patient, and how to bring about change.

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“The goal of my teaching has always been, and remains, to train analysts.”
–Jacques Lacan, Seminar XI, 209

Arguably the most profound psychoanalytic thinker since Freud, and deeply influential in many fields, Jacques Lacan often seems opaque to those he most wanted to reach. These are the readers Bruce Fink addresses in this clear and practical account of Lacan”s highly original approach to therapy. Written by a clinician for clinicians, Fink”s Introduction is an invaluable guide to Lacanian psychoanalysis, how it”s done, and how it differs from other forms of therapy. While elucidating many of Lacan”s theoretical notions, the book does so from the perspective of the practitioner faced with the pressing questions of diagnosis, what therapeutic stance to adopt, how to involve the patient, and how to bring about change.

Fink provides a comprehensive overview of Lacanian analysis, explaining the analyst”s aims and interventions at each point in the treatment. He uses four case studies to elucidate Lacan”s unique structural approach to diagnosis. These cases, taking up both theoretical and clinical issues in Lacan”s views of psychosis, perversion, and neurosis, highlight the very different approaches to treatment that different situations demand.

Table of contents:
PrefaceDesire and Psychoanalytic TechniqueDesire in AnalysisEngaging the Patient in the Therapeutic ProcessThe Analytic RelationshipInterpretation: Opening Up the Space of DesireThe Dialectic of DesireDiagnosis and the Positioning of the AnalystA Lacanian Approach to DiagnosisPsychosisNeurosisPerversionPsychoanalytic Technique beyond DesireFrom Desire to JouissanceAfterwordA Note on DocumentationNotesRecommended ReadingIndex

Review quote:
Professor Fink”s Clinical Introduction to Lacanian Psychoanalysis addresses the clinically minded of all stripes, from the formally trained psychoanalyst to the layman who may be in, or in any way interested in, psychotherapy. His book will be particularly useful to analysts-in-training and doctoral-level students in psychology and the cognate disciplines. No previous exposure to Lacan”s thinking is required.

Review quote:
Written with a clarity and accessibility unusual in Lacanian studies, Professor Fink”s book leads the reader step by step through Lacanian analysis, moving progressively toward the more problematic aspects of the theory. For students and practitioners of psychoanalysis, I”d recommend this book as the best I”ve seen.

Review quote:
Bruce Fink has established his place as one of the central authorities on Lacan in this country, without peer in his familiarity with all phases of Lacan”s work and in the clarity of his exegeses. Fink presents something that has not yet been seen in America, and rarely approached with such perspicacity anywhere: an introduction to Lacanian psychoanalysis not only as theory, but as clinical methodology and practice.

Review quote:
Bruce Fink has established his place as one of the central authorities on Lacan in this country, without peer in his familiarity with all phases of Lacan”s work and in the clarity of his exegeses…Professor Fink presents something that has not yet been seen in America, and rarely approached with such perspicacity anywhere: an introduction to Lacanian psychoanalysis not only as theory, but as clinical methodology and practic