Customer Reviews

Ritual and Spontaneity in the Psychoanalytic Process: A Dialectical-Constructivist View

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Hoffman has written a suberb book on cliincal theory and process. He not only has a deep understanding and respect for psychoanalytic schools of the past, but he is extending contempory psychoanalytic theory and practice and does so with creativity, humanity and eloquence. The dialectical-constructivist view elaborated upon in this book includes many features. Three features that have particular interest for me are the interplay of the givens of reality and the latitute for interpretive choices, the dialectic of meaning and mortality, and the dialectic between noninterpretive and interpretive interactions. Hoffman provides lenghty clinical illustrations that have had considerable impact on the way I understand interpersonal interactions. I am making this book a required text for my clinical seminar at my psychoanalytic institute. I think my students will benefit greatly from the honesty and talent revealed in Ritual and Sponteneity in the Psychoanalytic Process. I certainly have learned a great deal from reading this book.

Hoffman pushes social constructivist thinking into realms where few have attempted to tread. Beyond his uniquely subtle, ironic portrayal of the process of social construction, Hoffman takes on an even greater challenge: explaining why--within our subjective worlds of (constructed) meanings--there inevitably lurks a universal tension over the possibility of meaninglessness, a potential disorder within any sense of order. His explanation pushes constructivism into an existential realm--to the "horizon" where the awareness of the certainty of death (and the potential insignificance of life) exist in dialectical counterpoint with our constructed worlds of meaning. Most dramatically, by moving contemporary psychoanalytic discourse into this region, Hoffman is able to re-frame our understanding of many human dilemmas--from the child's experience of the role of parents to the patient's experience and expectations of the therapist/analyst. Caveat lector: you may never again see many familiar issues in the same way.

Careful, elegant reasoning and diligent research combined with flashes of humor and irony. It is a very clear and readable presentation of a "constructivist" point of view--that the patient and the analyst co-construct reality rather than the detached analyst objectively uncovering the truth; which challenges many basic assumptions about the role and the manner of the therapist.

A brilliantly argued, thoroughly reasoned argument for greater use of the symmetry/asymmetry dialectic in contemporary analysis, beautifully illustrated by lengthy and complex clinical examples.

Great service. Haven't read the book yet though. We'll see if it's dry or not.

Inspired by all the 5-stars rating this book got , I had quite high expectations. I was looking forward to find a few original ideas about the very demanding subject of "Spontaneity" as a human source of inspiration, play and selffullfilment.

If you approach this book from this angle, you probably are going to be disappointed.

"Ritual and Spontaneity ..." happens to be just the title of one of 10 chapters of the book. The chapters contain detailed analysis of concrete moments of the psychoanalytic process and the psychiatrist's possiblity to step out of orthodox rules of neutrality.
If that special case of spontaneity is all you are interested in, this book should be enjoyable.