Psychoanalysis and Homosexuality: A Contemporary Introduction
Book Announcement by Leezah Hertzmann (UK) and Juliet Newbigin (UK)
Authors Leezah Hertzmann and Juliet Newbigin examine the ways in which same sex desire, or ‘homosexuality,’ has been theorized by psychoanalysis during its history to date. They explore a history of the developing social attitudes which influenced the evolution of psychoanalysis, from Freud’s radical questioning of psychosexuality to later developments that assumed a moral high-ground for heteronormativity and led to the diagnosis of other forms of sexual expression as perversions requiring treatment. The book describes how the heteronormative bias took over psychoanalytic theory and practice, relegating lived sexual experience to the sidelines. The authors challenge this misconception by describing recent developments in psychoanalytic thinking and showing their impact on clinical practice.
By approaching ‘homosexuality’ from a contemporary post-heteronormative position, Psychoanalysis and Homosexuality: A Contemporary Introduction (Routledge) advocates a more flexible encounter in the consulting room in a way that illuminates an understanding of all sexualities, including heterosexuality. The authors discuss current challenges that clinicians face and, using clinical vignettes, explore the dilemmas that these challenges present, both for qualified practitioners as well as those in training.
Leezah Hertzmann is principal couple and individual psychoanalytic psychotherapist at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust (London) and in private practice. She has a career-long interest in psychoanalytic theory and technique with LGBTQ+ individuals and Couples. A member of the British Psychoanalytic Council’s Committee on Sexual and Gender Diversity, Leezah was the recipient of two British Psychoanalytic Council awards: In 2015 for innovation in relation to developing evidence-based interventions for couple conflict/violence, and again in 2019, with Juliet Newbigin, for Psychoanalysis and Diversity. Leezah teaches and publishes widely.
Juliet Newbigin is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist with a long-standing interest in the impact of the wider social context on the development of individual identity within the family. She has been particularly concerned about the troubled history of the heteronormative understanding of sexual orientation in both psychoanalysis and Jungian analysis, and their failure to recognise the experience of the LGBTQI community. She has twice received the BPC’s Bernard Rattigan Award for Psychoanalysis and Diversity, in 2015, with Frank Lowe, and 2019, with Leezah Hertzmann. She currently chairs the BPC Advisory Committee on Sexual and Gender Diversity.
Leezah Hertzmann
London, UK
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Juliet Newbigin
London, UK
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