Publication Announcement by Michael Korson (USA)

Korson, M. (2025). Knowing what psychoanalysts do and doing what psychoanalysts know, by David Tuckett et al., Rowman & Littlefield, 2024, 296 pp. Fort Da, 31: 47-54.

British psychoanalyst David Tuckett and a group of colleagues conducted a twenty-year study exploring the question, “What do psychoanalysts do when they practice psychoanalysis?” – a project that culminated in the publication of this book. They examined transcripts from over three hundred sessions by an international group of analysts, including several renowned practitioners. Michael Korson balances his review between an appreciation of the study –particularly how the findings highlight Freud’s view of analysis as a process of guessing (erraten in German) about the unconscious – and a critique of certain preconceptions that reflect a rigid adherence to Freudian theory. He also finds it unfortunate that the authors seemingly go out of their way to dismiss relational theory as uninterested in unconscious beliefs. Ultimately, Korson suggests, the group may have found what they were (unconsciously) looking for.

Michael Korson, MFT
San Francisco, California, USA
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