Psychoanalysis: The Impossible Profession (Master Work) [Hardcover]

Janet Malcolm (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1568213425 | ISBN-13: 978-1568213422 | Publication Date: July 7, 1977

Through an intensive study of 'Aaron Green,' a Freudian analyst in New York City, New Yorker writer Janet Malcolm reveals the inner workings of psychoanalysis.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Janet Malcolm has managed somehow to peer into the reticent, reclusive world of psychoanalysis and to report to us, with remarkable fidelity, what she has seen. When I began reading I thought condescendingly, 'She will get the facts right, and everything else wrong.' She does gets the facts right, but far more impressive, she has been able to capture and convey the claustral atmosphere of the profession. Her book is journalism become art." -- Joseph Adelson, The New York Times Book Review

"Miss Malcolm asks the questions that every patient has ever wanted to ask but knew it was hopeless...More momentous still, Miss Malcolm's questions get answers." -- Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, The New York Times

"Malcolm provides an elegant, precise summary of the history and development of Freud's ideas...She has drawn a provocative portrait of one physician in Freud's impossible profession." -- Jean Strouse, Newsweek

"Her treatment of the subject is original, rich and will reward anyone interested in the science or business of changing minds." -- E. James Lieberman, The Washington Post Book World --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From the Inside Flap

Through an intensive study of "Aaron Green," a Freudian analyst in New York City, New Yorker writer Janet Malcolm reveals the inner workings of psychoanalysis. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 184 pages
• Publisher: Jason Aronson, Inc. (July 7, 1977)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568213425
• ISBN-13: 978-1568213422
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #599,654 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great introduction into the world of psychoanalysts, February 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Psychoanalysis: The Impossible Profession (Paperback)

Janet Malcolm's book is a great read; very accessible and lucid. The book is couched (sorry for the pun) as an interview with an analyst in New York City who discusses some of the more controversial issues about analysis. In particular, the author explores whether or not analysts should become more "loving and caring" with their patients. Mixed in with the interview are great passages from Freud and other analysts on these topics. If you're like me, you'll bristle at the unbelievable arrogance of some of the anyalysts she speaks with.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A window into the parochial world of New York psychoanalysis, March 22, 2010

By 

Harold Goodman (Silver Spring, Maryland 20910) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Psychoanalysis: The Impossible Profession (Paperback)

This book is a great gift to anyone interested in the New York psychoanalytic scene in the 1970's.

Janet Malcolm has quite a bit of background when it comes to the world of psychology and Freudian psychoanalysis. She devotes her book to an in-depth, warts and all, tour via the eyes of a young, classical analyst who received his training at and is closely associated with the New York Psychoanalytic Institute, the bastion of traditional Freudian analysis in the US.

The initial part of the book details the history of psychoanalysis and its development particularly in the United States. I found this a wonderful primer for what transpires in the rest of the book as well as for further reading and study.

In particular, we learn about the many issues facing the analyst and his subject. Much of this has never been so explicitly revealed as is done in this title. I found it absolutely fascinating.

Ms. Malcolm knows what questions to ask and she does.

The book is filled with her answers.

Highly recommended.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved the author, hated the shrink, February 14, 2009

By 

Phern Hunt (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Psychoanalysis: The Impossible Profession (Master Work) (Hardcover)

Janet Malcom is at her inquiring best in this account of the inner workings of the New York psychoanalytic establishment in the 1980's. Her writing is so engaging that you feel that you are there. As a psychotherapist in San Francisco, formed by the feminist critique of Freud and grounded in Kohut's psychoanalytic self psychology, I found "Aaron Green", the anonymous shrink, phenomenally unable to establish an empathic relationship with his clients, and surprisingly, not that interested in helping them. It seems that orthodox psychoanalysis, as portrayed here, is so involved in proving to themselves that the Oedipus Complex is the eternal tragedy of the human psyche that nothing else can possibly happen in the treatment!