On Freud's "Constructions in Analysis"

Thierry Bokanowski is a founding member and training and supervising analyst of the Societe Psychanalytique de Paris, and a member of the International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA). He is a former editor of 'La Revue francaise de Psychanalyse', former member of the IPA Publications Committee, former Scientific Secretary to the Institut de Paris, and currently chairs the Executive Committee of the Commission d'Enseignement de la Societe Psychanalytique de Paris. He has published several papers in various psychoanalytical journals, including the 'International Journal of Psychoanalysis'. His books include 'Sandor Ferenczi', and 'De la pratique analytique', translated under the title 'The Practice of Psychoanalysis'. Sergio Lewkowicz is currently the Scientific Director of the Porto Alegre Psychoanalytical Society; Psychiatry and Training and Supervising Analyst for the Porto Alegre Psychoanalytical Society; Publications Director of the Porto Alegre Psychoanalytical Society; Professor and Supervisor for Psychoanalytical Psychotherapy in the Psychiatry Department, Medical School of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul; Member of the International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA) Publications Committee; Member of the Programme Committee of the 43rd Congress of the IPA in New Orleans (2004); former President of the Society of Psychiatry of Rio Grande do Sul; former Editor of the Psychiatry Journal of Rio Grande do Sul; and he has published papers on psychoanalytic technique.

Contributors: David Bell, Michele Bertrand, Harold P. Blum, Thierry Bokanowski, Stefano Bolognini, Jorge Canestri, Elias Mallet da Rocha Barros, Elizabeth Lima da Rocha Barros, Abel Fainstein, Howard B. Levine, Sergio Lewkowicz, Georges Pragier, Jacques Press, Mikael SundenThe authors, from different regions of the International Psychoanalytical Association, address the intriguing questions that this fundamental paper implies, such as: Interpret? Construct? Deconstruct? Re-construct? On that very general basis, how are we to differentiate between interpretation and construction? From a technical point of view, should the one be contrasted with the other? Does construction not also imply de-construction, with the subsequent need to reconstruct? What role does the counter-transference play in the work of construction? This volume shows the importance and complexity of this concept for psychoanalytic thought. 'This book is another remarkable contribution to the process of assessing Freuds seminal ideas from a contemporary perspective. The editors and the authors succeed in offering to the reader a comprehensive overview, departing from different theoretical points of view, of one of Freuds most challenging concepts: constructions in analysis. Once again, eighty years after Freud's original paper, this book demonstrates the usefulness of Freud's concept and the different ways it can be seen and used. The reader will be able to get a really contemporary flavour of it, which makes the reading of this book a rewarding and stimulating experience.'- Claudio Laks Eizirik, former president of the International Psychoanalytical Association

• Contemporary Freud -- Preface -- Introduction -- “Constructions in Analysis” (1937d) -- Discussion of “Constructions in Analysis” -- Freud’s basic assumptions on “constructions” -- Construction: the central paradigm of psychoanalytic work -- Reconstruction in contemporary psychoanalysis -- Constructions and historicization -- Creative construction -- Construction then and now -- Knowledge as fact and knowledge as experience: Freud’s “Constructions in Analysis” -- The conundrum of time in psychoanalysis -- On deconstruction