Customer Reviews

Object Relations and Self Psychology: An Introduction

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book offers a really good introduction to many of the primary post-Freudian theorists. It was clear to read and really provided a sound introduction to some complicated ideas. This book was better than the others of its type. Worth the investment.

StClair has made a brief summary of the followers of Freudian psychodynamic thought in the book. It is nice to see the outline of the theories of many important theorists in the field. For me, the book was a good guide to enter the object relations and self psychology. The book gives a global look on recent psychoanalytic teories. After reading the book I found myself closer to some of the theorists concerned in the book and went on exploring more on them. It was a good start for a beginner like me.

This book provides a useful survey of the various writers and practitioners who are customarily regarded as Psychodynamic/Psychoanalytic theorists. The author begins with Freud's drive-oriented model and progresses on through more relational-focused proponents such as Melanie Klein, W.R.D. Fairbairn, D.W. Winnicott, and Kernberg on to Self Psychologists, Heinz Kohut and Stephen Mitchell.

The book is consistently organized throughout, with each chapter including each theorist's key concepts, how these concepts inform the developmental process, how psychopathology is defined and illustrative cases.

The language at times can be somewhat cumbersome and unclear. I also received this feedback from my students. Nonetheless, in almost an outline format, this book provides a broad overview and a good amount of information in its slim volume without going into great depth.The Basic Writings of Sigmund Freud (Psychopathology of Everyday Life, the Interpretation of Dreams, and Three Contributions To the Theory of Sex)Selected Melanie KleinPlaying and Reality (Routledge Classics)Winnicott: His Life And WorkThe Analysis of the Self: A Systematic Approach to the Psychoanalytic Treatment of Narcissistic Personality Disorders

I haven't read this book yet so this is not a review. (But it won't publish this unless I give it a rating - so pay no attention to my 4 stars - I chose 4 just so my alert here wouldn't alter the book's standing as reviewed so far by others.)

I'm writing to correct something that could be important to some buyers. This book is not 239 pages long, as indicated here. It is 205 pages, even including the index (187 pages of text). The significance of that is mainly that the newest 4th edition is more amplified than the amazon website would suggest. It shows the 3rd edition here as being 239 pages and the 4th one as being 240 pages. I don't know how long the actual 4th edition is, but this one is only 205 at most.

In making my decision between editions (and the professor requiring the book, somewhat surprisingly, said he didn't care which edition we bought), I considered the fact that the book seemed to be of the same length, so how much amplified could the newest edition be? The fact that I could get a 3rd edition here via marketplace for much more expense made my decision, but I was surprised -- no fault of the marketplace seller, though -- that this book is shorter than advertised, meaning the 4th edition would be about 20% more amplified.

Just so you know -- and hopefully amazon corrects the page-count on this website. And also perhaps finds reviewers for the 4th edition since the only reviews there are the ones copied from here reviewing the 3rd edition.