A Brief Introduction to Psychoanalytic Theory

Psychoanalytic theory remains hugely influential to our understanding of the mind and human behaviour. It provides a rich source of ideas for therapeutic practice, while offering dramatic insights for the study of culture and society. This comprehensive review of the field:
- Explores the birth of psychoanalysis, taking the reader step by step through Freud's original ideas and how they developed and evolved
- Provides a clear account of fundamental psychoanalytic concepts
- Discusses the different schools of psychoanalysis that have emerged since Freud
- Illustrates the wider applications of psychoanalytic ideas across film, literature and politics
Written by a highly respected authority on psychoanalysis, this book is essential reading for trainees in counselling and psychotherapy, as well as for students across the arts, humanities and social sciences.

Stephen Frosh has recently retired as Professor in the Department of Psychosocial Studies at Birkbeck, University of London, UK. He was a Visiting Professor at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa, and at the University of São Paulo, Brazil. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, an Academic Associate of the British Psychoanalytical Society, a Founding Member of the Association of Psychosocial Studies, and an Honorary Member of the Institute of Group Analysis. He is the author of over 20 books on psychosocial studies and psychoanalysis, including A Brief Introduction to Psychoanalytic Theory; Psychoanalysis Outside the Clinic; The Politics of Psychoanalysis; Hate and the Jewish Science: Anti-Semitism, Nazism and Psychoanalysis; Hauntings; Those Who Come After: Postmemory, Acknowledgement and Forgiveness and most recently, Antisemitism and Racism: Ethical Challenges for Psychoanalysis, published by Bloomsbury in 2023. He is co-editor of the Palgrave Handbook of Psychosocial Studies and the Routledge International Handbook of Psychoanalysis and Jewish Studies.