Product Description
This book presents an easily
accessible summary of the thinking of a
major contributor to the field of
psychoanalysis and a comprehensive
description of modern conflict theory. For
the first time, the highlights of Brenner's
critical thinking and of his seminal
contributions in recent decades have been
distilled into a single volume. Utilizing
clinical and literary examples, he supports
his conclusions with specific data and
cogent elaborations that are of considerable
interest both to the sophisticated analyst
already familiar with his work, and to the
novice reading Brenner for the first time.
Editorial Reviews
Brenner spells out a variety of
suggested interventions, illustrated with
extensive clinical examples. In addition, he
specifically addresses underlying principles
and how he conceptualizes the change
resulting from an analysis. --Leon Hoffman,
Journal of the American Psychoanalytic
Association
The positions and formulations that
Brenner describes are chock-full of
interesting controversial aspects....Every
analyst should read this book....[It] is a
book for the ages. --Scott Dowling,
International Journal of Psychoanalysis
This work is invaluable. Brenner is
unsurpassed at providing clear definitions
for the concepts he addresses....This book
is...a work to be learned from and reckoned
with; it is essential reading. --Jeffrey H.
Golland, PsycCritiques, American
Psychological Association
About the Author
Charles Brenner was born in Boston
in 1913, the son of Ukrainian immigrants. A
brilliant prodigy, he entered Harvard
University at age 14 and graduated cum laude
with a chemistry degree at 18. After earning
a medical degree, also at Harvard, Brenner
did his internship and residency in
psychiatry, then trained at the Boston
Psychoanalytic Society and Institute. He
later held a neurology appointment at the
College of Physicians and Surgeons at
Columbia University in New York, and was an
attending psychiatrist at Montefiore Medical
Center. He married and was the father of two
daughters. He became a cornerstone of the
New York Psychoanalytic Society and
Institute, remaining active there for more
than 50 years. His 1955 book, An Elementary
Textbook of Psychoanalysis, has been
continuously in print and has sold more than
1,000,000 copies. He was also the coauthor
of Psychoanalytic Concepts and Structural
Theory (1964) and the author of The Mind in
Conflict (1982). He died in 2008 at the age
of 94.
