Book Announcement by Jo Frasca (Australia) and Jo Silbert (Australia)
Contemporary relational psychoanalytic literature has been virtually silent about our relationship with animals, a feature seemingly intrinsic to our relational worlds. Weaving together relevant literature, clinical reflections, case material and contemporary psychoanalytic theory, this Routledge title seeks to fill the void by giving voice to the practice and principles of working relationally in the presence of an animal.
Co-editors Jo Frasca and Jo Silber feature the writing of eleven psychotherapists, including IARPP members Gretchen Heyer, Lynn Higgins, Sean Meggeson and Virginia Rachmani, to explore how the impact of a non-human being into the therapeutic space is experienced by the psychotherapist, the patient and often the third. The text accentuates recurrent themes: animals are seen by human beings as significant subjective others and are treated as legitimate partners for relational and interpersonal processes, attachment figures and transferential objects; animals in the psychotherapy environment can play the role as a bridge from the unconscious to the conscious, from the dissociated to the experienced, and from the intrapsychic to the interpersonal; and, as the third in the treatment arena, the animal helps to reveal the field, bringing conflicts to life and making them available for analysis in the clinical setting. Thus the presence of an animal in the treatment arena can eventually bring about relational, interpersonal and intrapsychic change.
In seeking to authorize the incorporation of animals into the practice of relational psychotherapy, the text extends psychoanalytic and relational principles to create a theoretical framework within which to consider the therapeutic effects of working in the triadic interactions of therapist, patient and animal, and thus also begins to evolve a new version of relational psychoanalytic practice. The authors value the human-animal experience in treatment and repeatedly show how the application of a relational psychoanalytic lens to the patient-therapist-animal triad can enhance the therapeutic process in ways that encourage progressive communication, understanding of the patient and the relaxing of defenses, leading to the symbolizing of relational capacity, therapeutic breakthrough and intrapsychic change.
Jo Silbert has worked in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Australia as a social worker, counsellor, psychotherapist and trainer in the educational, public, private and NGO sectors. She is interested in interpersonal neurobiology, mindfulness and in issues of social justice. Retired from clinical practice, Jo has turned her attention to writing and editing.
Jo Frasca is a psychotherapist in private practice in Sydney, Australia working with adults, adolescents and couples within the relational psychoanalytic frame. Her passion is public education in the differing professional services offered to the public for emotional and mental health. This interest led to her first book, Delving Deeper: Understanding Diverse Approaches While Exploring Psychotherapy.
Jo Silbert
Sydney, Australia
Email Jo Silbert
Jo Frasca
Sydney, Australia
Email Jo Frasca
www.jofrasca.com
