Forgetting Freud (Is Psychoanalysis in Retreat?)

It would be ironic if psychoanalysis disappeared during the 21st century ,overtaken by smart newer drugs or so-called evidence based methods of psychological help. After all ,there ha been no shortage of experts wishing for its demise. Who needs psychoanalysis with its complex theory of the person? With the increasing objectification of life and people, the critical perspective that psychoanalysis can employ is now more than ever. However,the author argues,analysis must engage with its critics,with other disciplines, and above all, with the ethical demands coming from the Other. Weatherill draws not only on the work of key analytic figures like Freud, Klein and Lacan but also on serious critics of psychoanalysis such as Levinas, Baudrillard, Lyotard and Vladimir Nabokov. This study proposes a serious challenge to the theory and practice of psychoanalysis which has been uncritically dominated by a few key figures. What is unique is that this criticism of the discipline comes from WITHIN its own ranks and is not hostile to psychoanalysis per se,but on the contrary seeks to ground it in real ethical encounter .