An Outline of Our Contemporary Freudian Approach

Abstract

In this paper the authors give a summary of their Contemporary Freudian approach to clinical work. The main theoretical perspectives are described followed by the clinical principles guiding clinical work with adults. A clinical example is then given to illustrate how these principles inform the analyst's listening and formulation of interpretations. Our Contemporary Freudian approach has developed over many years of clinical work and study and our immersion in the life of the British Psychoanalytic Society with its different schools of thought. It is based on the Freudian tradition: the conceptualization of the dynamic unconscious and the role of unconscious phantasy which informs our understanding of the unfolding analytic process. The Freudian developmental perspective (further elaborated by Anna Freud and others) is the essential basis on which we understand the patient's history and current mental functioning. The centrality of the body with its sexual and aggressive drives that have to be integrated into the individual's self and object representations over the course of development, remains fundamental in our clinical approach.