Passions, Persons, Psychotherapy, Politics

Andrew Samuels is one of the best known figures internationally in the fields of psychotherapy, Jungian analysis, relational psychoanalysis and counselling, and in academic studies in those areas. His work is a blend of the provocative and original together with the reliable and scholarly. His many books and papers figure prominently on reading lists in clinical and academic teaching contexts.

This self-selected collection, Passions, Persons, Psychotherapy, Politics, brings together some of Samuels' major writings at the interface of politics and therapy thinking. In this volume, he includes chapters on the market economy; prospects for eco-psychology and environmentalism; the role of the political Trickster, particularly the female Trickster; the father; relations between women and men; and his celebrated and radical critique of the Jungian idea of ‘the feminine principle’. Clinical material consists of his work with parents and on the therapy relationship. The book concludes with his seminal and transparent work on Jung and anti-semitism and an intriguing account of the current trajectory of the Jungian field.

Samuels has written a highly personal and confessional introduction to the book. Each chapter also has its own topical introduction, written in a clear and informal style. There is also much that will challenge the long-held beliefs of many working in politics and in the social sciences. This unique collection of papers will be of interest to psychotherapists, Jungian analysts, psychoanalysts and counsellors – as well as those undertaking academic work in those areas.