Passions, Persons, Psychotherapy, Politics

Andrew Samuels is one of the best known figures internationally in the fields of psychotherapy, Jungian analysis, relational psychoanalysis and counselling, and in academic studies in those areas. His work is a blend of the provocative and original together with the reliable and scholarly. His many books and papers figure prominently on reading lists in clinical and academic teaching contexts.

This self-selected collection, Passions, Persons, Psychotherapy, Politics, brings together some of Samuels' major writings at the interface of politics and therapy thinking. In this volume, he includes chapters on the market economy; prospects for eco-psychology and environmentalism; the role of the political Trickster, particularly the female Trickster; the father; relations between women and men; and his celebrated and radical critique of the Jungian idea of ‘the feminine principle’. Clinical material consists of his work with parents and on the therapy relationship. The book concludes with his seminal and transparent work on Jung and anti-semitism and an intriguing account of the current trajectory of the Jungian field.

Samuels has written a highly personal and confessional introduction to the book. Each chapter also has its own topical introduction, written in a clear and informal style. There is also much that will challenge the long-held beliefs of many working in politics and in the social sciences. This unique collection of papers will be of interest to psychotherapists, Jungian analysts, psychoanalysts and counsellors – as well as those undertaking academic work in those areas.

“'I appreciate the breadth and depth of source material the author uses to draw out his ideas, but it is a style of writing that I will never find easy to digest. Nevertheless, as a therapist, I do find satisfaction and challenge in considering current significant and complex social and political issues from a psychotherapeutic perspective and in that endeavour Samuels has shown himself to be writer of credibility, rigour and insight.'- Steve Page, Therapy Today,July 2015”

'I appreciate the breadth and depth of source material the author uses to draw out his ideas, but it is a style of writing that I will never find easy to digest. Nevertheless, as a therapist, I do find satisfaction and challenge in considering current significant and complex social and political issues from a psychotherapeutic perspective and in that endeavour Samuels has shown himself to be writer of credibility, rigour and insight.'- Steve Page, Therapy Today, July 2015

Andrew Samuels has, for almost forty years, been evolving a unique clinical blend of post-Jungian, relational psychoanalytic and humanistic approaches to therapy work. He is recognised internationally as one of the leading commentators from a psychotherapeutic perspective on political and social problems. His work on the father, sexuality, spirituality and countertransference has also been widely appreciated. He is a past chair of the UK Council for Psychotherapy, a co-founder of Psychotherapists and Counsellors for Social Responsibility and of the Alliance for Counselling and Psychotherapy. He is Professor of Analytical Psychology at Essex University and holds visiting chairs at New York, London, Macau and Roehampton Universities. Andrew's many books have been translated into 19 languages, including the groundbreaking Jung and the Post-Jungians, the indispensable Critical Dictionary of Jungian Analysis, his prescient account of pluralism in The Plural Psyche and his works on politics and therapy thinking - The Political Psyche and Politics on the Couch.

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