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.
