The horrific events of 9/11 and its sequelae have reinforced what thoughtful analysts have long known: that they have a responsibility to respond to the complex social and educational issues arising in their communities -- to function, that is, as “community psychoanalysts.” Analysts in the Trenches vividly illustrates what socially engaged analysts can offer to violent and disturbed communities. Contributors bring analytic expertise to bear on the emotional sequelae to violence, including sexual and physical abuse; to multiple and traumatic losses; and to learning inhibitions. They also explore and devise community responses to the scapegoating of classes and groups, to homelessness, and to variations in family structures. As community consultants and agents of social change, the contributors rely more on active engagement than interpretation, but they retain a psychodynamic orientation to the issues they confront. Within this interventionist, group-focused approach, analytically oriented clinicians function as team members more intent on changing how a group functions than in interpreting its underlying dynamics. Analysts in the Trenches exemplifies this approach in relation to challenging problems on the streets, in the schools, and in the aftermath of war. It provides heartening testimony to the relevance of psychodynamic thinking in the post-9/11 world and will spur professional readers to develop their own programs of community involvement. -- from the publisher "Analysts in the Trenches is an urgently needed book. Drawing on psychoanalytic concepts but not constrained by them, the contributors to this timely volume present innovative programs and practices developed to respond to human suffering in our era's most violent, traumatic situations, from war and forced migration to crime and homelessness. The reader will be inspired by the courage, creativity, and sophistication of clinicians who are socially engaged citizens. A must-read for those who want to know how psychoanalysis can be mobilized to respond to the crying needs of people around the world and right outside our doors."-- Neil Altman, Ph.D., Editor, Psychoanalytic Dialogues "What I find most appealing is that the contributors to Analysts in the Trenches offered help and a willingness to be part of a professional team rather than claiming to have the answers to complex social problems. The long tradition of analysts working in the community comes to fruition in this exemplary volume, which could well be adopted as the text for courses in community psychoanalysis at every psychoanalytic institute. Editors Bruce Sklarew, Stuart Twemlow, and Sallye Wilkinson deserve our highest praise for this ground-breaking publishing event.”-- Marvin Margolis, M.D., Ph.D., Past President, American Psychoanalytic Association About the Authors: Bruce Sklarew, M.D. is Principal Investigator, School-Based Mourning Project, Wendt Center for Loss and Healing, Washington, DC. Stuart W. Twemlow, M.D. is Director, Peaceful Schools and Communities Research Program, Menninger Clinic, and Professor of Psychiatry, Baylor School of Medicine, Houston, TX. Sallye M. Wilkinson, Ph.D. teaches at the Greater Kansas City Psychoanalytic Institute. |