Memoir of Psychoanalytic Process, Theory, and Transformation

Rory G. Rothman, PsyaD, is a psychoanalyst in New York City with more than forty years of experience, working with individuals, couples, clinical supervisees, and groups. She is senior faculty and Director of Admissions at the Center for Modern Psychoanalytic Studies (CMPS), where she teaches and supervises analytic candidates.

“Rothman’s book is a welcome addition to our literature—at once a moving memoir of the making of an analyst and a teachable text that can open deeper understanding of the work of psychoanalysis. Rothman uniquely brings together a range of streams of foundational and contemporary psychoanalytic thought, showing how they have fed each other over time in the formation of an analyst with her own penetrating approach to the work, and a natural affinity to go into the deepest spaces with her patients. Her book is a valuable tool, synthesizing theory and thinking to move us all forward in our work.”Ofra Eshel, author of The Emergence of Analytic Oneness: Into the Heart of Psychoanalysis, and Reinventing Psychoanalysis for the Great Unknown: The Never-Ending Challenge.“This is a unique work, bringing to life the way personal history, theory, and clinical technique intersect to create an inimitable psychoanalyst dedicated to the transformative nature of psychoanalysis. It is also a foundational work in comparative psychoanalytic theory. As a teacher for over 50 years, I have been looking for this kind of book, a memoir that is at once personal and theoretical, speculative and practical. Beyond that, it is a book presenting and eliciting thought and feeling, memory and desire, hope and despair, all in the service of transformation.”William J. Hurst, PhD, Psychoanalyst, Editor Emeritus, Modern Psychoanalysis“As the president of a psychoanalytic institute, I am eager to add this book to the syllabus for courses on comparative psychoanalysis, primitive mental states, clinical case discussion, and beyond. But it is much more than a teaching text; it is a moving memoir that speaks to clinicians on an emotional and intellectual level that is rarely seen in writing. It is personal and generous, encouraging us to think more deeply and consciously about how we work.”Mimi Crowell, PhD, President, Center for Modern Psychoanalytic Studies“This blending of personal and professional is completely unique in the field of psychoanalysis. I’m aware of no other book that looks at one clinician’s development over the course of her career, integrating her childhood, personal analysis, work with teachers and supervisors, in-depth engagement over decades with the work of prominent psychoanalysts like Ogden, McDougall, Eshel, Green, Civitarese, and Bergstein, all supplemented by six extensive case reports. This is a very personal, highly creative, one-of-a-kind book that will appeal to every psychodynamic clinician.”Dan Gilhooley, PsyaD, psychoanalyst, Center for Modern Psychoanalytic Studies, Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis; Author (with Frank Toich) of Psychoanalysis, intersubjective writing, and a postmaterialist model of mind: I woke up dead (Routledge)"This is a deeply moving book in which memoir and psychoanalytic reflection become inseparable. Through a series of personal and clinical encounters, the author traces her lifelong journey of becoming both a person and a psychoanalyst, revealing how each continually shapes and transforms the other. Written with remarkable honesty, warmth and clinical sensitivity, the book offers profound theoretical and technical insights while never losing sight of the emotional realities from which they emerge. It is both an intimate life story and a testament to psychoanalysis as a creative, living process."Avner Bergstein, Israel Psychoanalytic Society, author of Bion and Meltzer's Expeditions into Unmapped Mental Life.

• Introduction: “What Was That?”Part I: My Foundations Chapter 1: From Early Life to Analytic TrainingChapter 2: Early Training and New InfluencesMy Work with Phyllis MeadowEugenio Gaddini: On Early Psychic LifeJoyce McDougall: On Archaic Psychic StructuresChapter 3: Phyllis Meadow’s Contribution to Modern PsychoanalysisChapter 4: Doctoral Studies: Opening My Theoretical RangePart II: Deepening Theoretical Influences Chapter 5: André Green’s Influence on My ProcessChapter 6: My Encounter with the French Psychosomatic School… and Related TheoristsClinical Case: RF, The Case of a Severely Somatizing WomanMarilia Aisenstein: Psychoanalysis Is Inherently PsychosomaticRiccardo Lombardi: Expanding Views of the Body-Mind LinkChapter 7: Perspectives on “Trauma”Clinical Cases: SP, “I don’t need you”; DG, “I want to take up residence, but can’t”Chapter 8: The Wide Influence of Winnicott’s “Fear of Breakdown”Thomas Ogden: An Invaluable Take on “Fear of Breakdown”Adam Phillips: Other InsightsChapter 9: Ofra Eshel on Breakdown and DeadnessClinical Case: MZ, A Case of Many Colors/”Space-Womb”Part III: Opening to Wider Aesthetic Dimensions Chapter 10: Echoes of BionJoseph Aguayo: On Bion, Projective Identification, and CountertransferenceAvner Bergstein: On the Importance of Intuition in the “Art” of PsychoanalysisClinical Case: AR, Working in “Nothingness” and “Missed Magic Moments”Meg Harris Williams: On the Romantic Poets, Bion, Meltzer, and MoreChapter 11: Ferro & Civitarese on “Field Theory”Clinical Case: LW, “A Transformation, Not a Cure”On Psychoanalytic Writing: Bringing the Work to LifeRachel Peltz: The Psychoanalyst as “Artist”Chapter 12: Ogden on Ontological Psychoanalysis and MoreConclusion: “What Is This?”Postscript: An Opportunity for Patients to Process Their Own Clinical StorySubject/Author Index