1st Edition
Developments in Field Theory for Psychotherapists, Psychoanalysts and Counsellors
This book explores developments in psychoanalytic field theory internationally, and their relevance for therapeutic theory and practice.
The roots of psychoanalytic field theory can be traced back to the work of Kurt Lewin, and it has taken particular shape in the hands of the Barangers, Bion and Ferro. The book's focus is on developments in field theory post-Bion ('Post-Bionian Field Theory') in Italy, with contributions from Brazil, Serbia and the USA, in the form of chapters by Boffito, Civitarese, Fagundes, Levine, Mazzacane, Mojović, Morgan-Jones and Snell and Penna and Hopper.
Among the themes the book explores are the transformative potentials of play and the centrality of dreaming. The book is informed by a psychoanalysis not so much of decoding and archeological uncovering as one of being and becoming, within a shared ‘field’ in which therapist and patient are partners in creating, exploring and developing. The chapter by Mojovíc and the commentary by Penna and Hopper extend the use of field theory: in other historical and geographical developments field theory and group analysis have productively been brought together, notably in Argentina where the two are most closely linked.
This book will be essential reading for students and scholars of Psychology and Psychotherapy interested in field theory and contemporary psychoanalysis. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of European Journal of Psychotherapy and Counselling.
Introduction to Developments in Field Theory for Psychotherapists, Psychoanalysts and Counsellors
Del Loewenthal
1. Stepping into the field Bion and the Post-Bionian field theory of Antonino Ferro and the Pavia group
Howard B. Levine
2. The Bion-Field Theory (BFT): Theory, clinical tools, controversial points
Fulvio Mazzacane
3. What does it mean to ‘play’ in analysis?
Giuseppe Civitarese
4. Making the best of a bad time characters and imagination in teleanalysis with children
Sara Boffito
5. Phenomenology of a field created by psychoanalyst and patients
Mércia Maranhão Fagundes
6. Tesla transformers in the analytic fields in Serbia
Marina Mojović
7. Fields, systems, and silos - from electromechanics to the matrix: A commentary on ‘developments in field theory
Carla Penna and Earl Hopper
Conclusion: Expanding Fields
Richard Morgan-Jones and Robert Snell
Biography
Robert Snell is Honorary Senior Research Fellow at Roehampton University and a Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist in private practice. He is the author of Cézanne and the Post-Bionian Field - An Exploration and a Meditation (2021)
Richard Morgan-Jones is an Organisational Consultant and a Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist in private practice. He directs Work Force Health: Consulting and Research. He is the author of The Body of the Organisation and its Health (2010)
Del Loewenthal is Emeritus Professor of Psychotherapy and Counselling at the University of Roehampton; and, chair of the Southern Association for Psychotherapy and Counselling (SAFPAC), London, UK. He is a psychoanalytic and existential-analytic psychotherapist, and chartered psychologist, with a particular interest in phenomenology. www.delloewenthal.com; www.SAFPAC.co.uk
