by Dianne Elise (USA)
Returning to Freud’s emphasis on libido and Eros, Dianne Elise’s collection of essays, published by Routledge (2019) as part of its Relational Perspectives Book Series, centers on the mutually reinforcing relationship between erotic and creative energies. Erotic embodiment is given context within a contemporary model of clinical process based in analytic field theory and highlighting Winnicott. Clinical material brings theory alive, giving clinicians an explicit picture of how they might utilize the ideas presented.
A creative mind is seen as located within a libidinal connection to the erotic body. The erotic is underscored as an important ingredient of the clinical situation — a lively spontaneity that partakes of the analyst’s and the patient’s creative self, vitalizing the field of clinical engagement. A full formulation of the analytic field must include awareness of the centrality of the erotic in the maternal matrix, in ongoing development, and in the clinical setting. The erotic-aesthetic dimension of the mind potentiates the creative interplay of the analytic process.
Written in an engaging and accessible style, this book makes complex theory available to mental health professionals at all levels, and to a wide range of readers, while offering sophisticated theoretical and clinical innovations. Elise addresses the need to engage multiple aspects of erotic life while maintaining a reliable professional boundary.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Part I: Erotic Vitality in Analytic Process
1 Moving from within the Maternal: The Choreography of Analytic Eroticism
2 Desire and Disruption in the Analytic Relationship
3 Blocked Creativity and Inhibited Erotic Transference
Part II: Potential Space and Orientations of the Erotic
4 Psychic Bisexuality and Creativity: Gender Repertoires
5 Male Fears of Psychic Penetration
6 Reclaiming Lost Loves: Transcending Unrequited Desires.
Part III: Women and Desire: Erotic Dysphorias
7 Sex and Shame: The Inhibition of Female Desires
8 Erasure of the Female Erotic
9 Failure to Thrive: Masochistic Submission in Women
Part IV – Erotic Betrayal and Poisoned Desires
10 Infidelity and the Betrayal of Truth
11 Betrayal and the Loss of Goodness in the Analytic Relationship
12 Narcissistic Seductions and the Collapse of the Creative
Dianne Elise is a Personal and Supervising Analyst of the Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California, USA. Nationally recognized for her innovative contributions to the psychoanalytic literature on gender and sexuality, she has consistently challenged conventional accounts of development.
Dianne Elise, Ph.D
5435 College Ave, #106
Oakland, CA 94618
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