What do psychoanalysts want? the problem of aims in psychoanalytic therapy

Defining the aims of psychoanalysis was not initially a serious complex problem. However, when Freud began to think of the aim as being one of scientific research, and added the different formulations of aim (for example, that the aim was to make the patient’s unconscious conscious) it became an area of tension which affected the subsequent development of psychoanalysis and the resolution of which has profound implications for the future of psychoanalysis.

In What Do Psychoanalysts Want? the authors look at the way psychoanalysts have defined analysis both here and in America, from Freud down to the present day. From this basis they set out a theory about aims which is extremely relevant to clinical practice today, discussing the issues from the point of view of the conscious and unconscious processes in the psychoanalyst’s mind.

Besides presenting a concise history of psychoanalysis, its conflicts and developments, which will be of interest to a wide audience of those interested in analysis, this book makes important points for the clinician interested in researching his or her practice.