We are fed at the breast of culture, not wholly but to differing
degrees. The Culture-Breast in Psychoanalysis: Cultural Experiences and
the Clinic focuses on the formative influence of cultural objects in
our lives, and the contribution such experiences make to our mental
health and overall wellbeing.
The book introduces "the culture-breast", a new clinical concept, to
explore the central importance played by cultural objects in the
psychical lives of patients and psychoanalytic clinical practitioners
inside and outside the consulting room. Bringing together clinical
writings from psychoanalysis and cultural objects from the applied
fields of film, art, literature and music, the book also makes an
argument for the usefulness of encounters with cultural objects as
"non-clinical case studies" in the training and further professional
development of psychoanalysts and psychotherapists. Through its
engagement with psychosocial studies, this text, furthermore,
interrogates, challenges and offers a way through a hierarchical split
that has become established in psychoanalysis between "clinical
psychoanalysis" and "applied psychoanalysis".
Combining approaches used in clinical, academic and arts settings, The
Culture-Breast in Psychoanalysis is an essential resource for clinical
practitioners of psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, counselling, psychology
and psychiatry. It will also be of interest to researchers and
practitioners in the fields of psychosocial studies, sociology, social
work, cultural studies and the creative and performing arts.
