The Plural Psyche Personality, Morality and the Father

Pluralism can bridge the gaps that have opened up between personal experience, psychotherapy, and cultural criticism. In The Plural Psyche: Personality, Morality and the Father, a provocative, much praised and widely discussed book, Andrew Samuels lays bare the political implications of the personal struggle everyone has to hold their many inner divisions together. He also shows how pluralism can inspire new thinking in many areas including moral process, the construction of gender, and the role of the father in the development of sons and daughters. In addition, there are innovative chapters on clinical work, focusing on imagery and on countertransference. These themes come to life in a way that makes a significant contribution to debates about psychotherapy, gender, parenting and difference. This Classic Edition of The Plural Psyche includes a new introduction by the author.

Introduction to the Classic Edition. Preface. The Plural Psyche. Personality and the Imaginal Network. Parental Images and the Self-monitoring Psyche. A Relation Called Father. The Father and his Children. Beyond the Feminine Principle. Gender and the Borderline. The Image of the Parents in Bed. Countertransference and the Mundus Imaginalis. The Alchemical Metaphor. Original Morality in a Depressed Culture. The Diversity of Psychology and the Psychology of Diversity.

Andrew Samuels is recognised internationally as a leading commentator from a psychotherapeutic perspective on political and social problems. His work on the father, sexuality, spirituality and ethics has also been widely appreciated. Over forty years, he has evolved a unique blend of post-Jungian, relational psychoanalytic and humanistic approaches to clinical work. A past chair of the UK Council for Psychotherapy, he was co-founder of Psychotherapists and Counsellors for Social Responsibility and also of the Alliance for Counselling and Psychotherapy. He is Professor of Analytical Psychology at Essex University and holds visiting chairs at New York, London, Roehampton and Macau universities. His books have been translated into 19 languages. For Routledge, he is the author of Jung and the Post-Jungians (1985), A Critical Dictionary of Jungian Analysis (1986), The Plural Psyche (1989), The Political Psyche (1993), Relational Psychotherapy, Psychoanalysis and Counselling (edited with Del Loewenthal, 2014), and Passions, Persons, Psychotherapy,Politics (2014). www.andrewsamuels.com