Freud and Beyond - Softcover

Stephen A. Mitchell (1946-2000) was a leader in the field of modern psychoanalysis. An adjunct professor and clinical supervisor at New York University's postdoctoral program in psychotherapy and psychoanalysis, Mitchell's emphasis on the relational perspective shaped the way that American psychoanalysts practice their profession. He was the founding editor of the journal Psychoanalytic Dialogues and the author of several influential books, including Object Relations in Psychoanalytic Theory and Hope and Dread in Psychoanalysis.
Margaret J. Black, LCSW, is founding board member of the Stephen Mitchell Center for Relational Studies. She is also a board director of the National Institute for the Psychotherapies, a founding board member and vice president of International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy, an associate editor of Psychoanalytic Dialogues, and a member of the editorial board for Studies in Gender and Sexuality. She holds a BA from the University of Michigan and an MS from Columbia University, and is a graduate of the Analytic Institute, Postgraduate Center.

"Whenever I have been asked to recommend a fundamental text for graduate students and young professionals, or even for those expressing an initial interest in psychotherapy, Stephen A. Mitchell and Margaret J. Black's Freud and Beyond has been my go to text. The new edition, including an excellent preface highlighting recent developments in the field, remains the best survey of the history and development of psychoanalysis and the essential guide to its many schools, approaches and innovations. Brilliantly explaining theory and elucidating clinical practice with elegant and compelling case illustrations, this comprehensive introduction remains the best place to start in understanding Freud and his legacy."―Lewis Aron, Ph.D., Director, New York University Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy & Psychoanalysis

"Psychoanalysis is only valuable as uncommon common sense. Freud and Beyond is such an impressive and useful book because it makes psychoanalysis even more interesting by making it accessible."―Adam Phillips, author of Missing Out

"The best treatment of psychoanalytic theories, classical and current."―Choice

"A fascinating, lucid, and surprisingly comprehensive overview of the development of psychoanalytic theory and practice since Freud."―Readings

"[Freud and Beyond] is remarkably coherent in a field notorious for the density of its technical prose. Authors such as Otto Kernberg and Jacques Lacan... are presented with great clarity."―Boston Book Review

"This is a marvelous book which gives an overview of the work of just about all Freud's important disciples and dissenters. It is well recommended."―Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Review

"Mitchell and Black offer a compelling vision of a profession 'struggling to expand and redefine itself.'"―Boston Phoenix Literary Section

"The advantage of this book lies in its relative simplicity. Writing for the reader with little psychoanalytic training, the authors share the myths, developments, and inadequacies in psychoanalytic thought over time."―Clinical Social Work Journal

"Inclusive, integrated, and lively, this book sets a new high standard as an introduction to contemporary psychoanalysis."―Library Journal