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Psychoanalysis: The Impossible Profession Paperback – September 12, 1982

by Janet Malcolm (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 225 ratings
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From the author of In the Freud Archives and The Journalist and the Murderer comes an intensive look at the practice of psychoanalysis through interviews with “Aaron Green,” a Freudian analyst in New York City.  Malcolm is accessible and lucid in describing the history of psychoanalysis and its development in the United States. It provides rare insight into the contradictory world of psychoanalytic training and treatment and a foundation for our understanding of psychiatry and mental health. 

"Janet Malcom has managed somehow to peer into the reticent, reclusive world of psychoanalysis and to report to us, with remarkable fidelity, what she has seen. When I began reading I thought condescendingly, 'She will get the facts right, and everything else wrong.' She does get the facts right, but far more pressive, she has been able to capture and convey the claustral atmosphere of the profession. Her book is journalism become art."  —Joseph Andelson, The New York Times Book Review
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    192 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
  4. Publication date
    September 12, 1982
  5. Dimensions
    5.2 x 0.41 x 8.01 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0394710347
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0394710341
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Janet Malcolm has managed somehow to peer into the reticent, reclusive world of psychoanalysis and to report to us, with remarkable fidelity, what she has seen. When I began reading I thought condescendingly, 'She will get the facts right, and everything else wrong.' She does gets the facts right, but far more impressive, she has been able to capture and convey the claustral atmosphere of the profession. Her book is journalism become art." -- Joseph Adelson, The New York Times Book Review

"Miss Malcolm asks the questions that every patient has ever wanted to ask but knew it was hopeless...More momentous still, Miss Malcolm's questions get answers." -- Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, The New York Times

"Malcolm provides an elegant, precise summary of the history and development of Freud's ideas...She has drawn a provocative portrait of one physician in Freud's impossible profession." -- Jean Strouse, Newsweek

"Her treatment of the subject is original, rich and will reward anyone interested in the science or business of changing minds." -- E. James Lieberman, The Washington Post Book World

From the Inside Flap

Through an intensive study of "Aaron Green," a Freudian analyst in New York City, New Yorker writer Janet Malcolm reveals the inner workings of psychoanalysis.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group; 1st Vintage Books ed edition (September 12, 1982)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 192 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0394710347
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0394710341
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5.8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.2 x 0.41 x 8.01 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 225 ratings

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Janet Malcolm

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
225 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

paul
5.0 out of 5 stars A journalist goes inside the psychoanalytic institutions
Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2021
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It is quite unique and the author gives a succinct understanding of psychoanalytic thought and practices from an outsider that is not available anywhere else. And an entertaining read.
2 people found this helpful
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MARK DIMASSIMO
5.0 out of 5 stars An Honest Book on Psychoanalysis.
Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2013
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I had the good fortune to discover this book a full seven years after I terminated my rather long term psychotherapy which culminated in a classical analysis of at least several years. My analyst shared offices with Dr. Brenner, who features as a central figure in this book, and having read this, I can only interpret my experience with him as thousands of hours of evidence that he was a true and worthy disciple of the cheerful yet austere doctor whom Malcolm refers to as the "intransigent purist."

Joseph Adelson in The New York Times Review of Books goes a bit over the line in paraphrasing: "Dr. Brenner takes the hardest of lines. Psychoanalysis is based upon inducing and interpreting the transference reaction. Anything that interferes with or distracts from it must be eschewed. Strictly. The analyst must maintain the most stringent incognito. Under no circumstances can he make known to the patient his opinions, values, interest or foibles, nor can he offer advice, criticism, reassurance or sympathy. If the analyst is late to a session, he must neither apologize nor explain why. He must attend - and make the patient attend - only to the thoughts, fantasies and feelings produced by his lateness. If the patient's child is gravely ill, the analyst should not express concern or sympathy. His task is limited to evoking and understanding the patient's reactions."

He goes on to say that "this is a grim doctrine." On the contrary, I found it kind and accepting, or at least I found that my analyst was able to practice it that way. Frustrating, of course. But ultimately freeing in a way that a less austere approach might not be, leading to a clarity that might otherwise have been compromised. I suspect that much of the sense of grimness that analysts attribute to this purist perspective refers to grim abstinence on the part of the analyst. Certainly, it would be easier -- I would imagine -- to just act naturally, as one might at a party, to explain and indulge oneself and to engage in polite courtesies. This would certainly take a load off of the analyst -- it would be a lot less like work. Maintaining an accepting and encouraging attitude without recourse to these potential diversions is an exacting art. I came to appreciate the discipline most of all.

Was my analysis a success? My symptoms are long since relieved. I'm happy with my life. How much of this do I attribute to analysis and how much to my own efforts (and good luck) away from the analyst's couch? I do not think I am supposed to be able to know that, but I find it hard to imagine how I could have worked through all I did and flowered in quite the way I have without that office and couch as workshop. And I find it hard not to admire and appreciate the way my analyst actively helped me in all of that hard work while keeping himself (mostly) out of it.

This book was written over thirty years ago. Not knowing what has been going on inside the world of psychoanalysis since then, I could not say what has changed. There are other fascinating characters besides Brenner and his disciple Green (not his real name). I found the pioneering researcher of psychoanalysis and his drive to (tape) record sessions to be fascinating and admirable. I have read that findings from just this sort of research may have poured oil on the disputations as to therapeutic style, while identifying factors in the patient's or client's style and presentation which seem to have greater predictive value as to outcome.

For various reasons, it has been said almost since this book was written that the golden age of psychoanalysis is long since over. The world does not have patience or money for long conversations where medications and brief interventions will suffice. If my experience has been an expensive anachronism, I consider it a gift and a luxury worth the time and price many times over.

When I read this book, I find a window into something that can be that compelling a journey. Well done, Janet Malcolm.
54 people found this helpful
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Gruye
4.0 out of 5 stars Dense, Occasionally Rewarding
Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2013
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I went into this book only knowing about Psychoanalysis what Janet Malcolm had told me in her excellent book, "In the Freud Archives." This book is extremely dense and had the habit of making me very sleepy, but for the length of my read I felt like something undefinable was happening; that I was gleaning some type of insight from the book subconsciously, which, if you've read the book, will seem like either incredible coincidence, or literary genius on Malcolm's part. This is top notch journalism.
9 people found this helpful
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Farfenkuegel
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, Exquisitely Detailed, and Accessible
Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2019
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Malcolm is one of the greatest literary journalists of the 20th century; the sober, magisterial yin to the Gonzo yang of Wolf and Thompson, she captures psychoanalysis from within as no one has before. An engrossing, impeccably crafted work.
2 people found this helpful
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Marina
5.0 out of 5 stars Good real perspective on the profession and its practitioners.
Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2021
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Attractive writing, intelligent observations.
2 people found this helpful
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B.A.
3.0 out of 5 stars A bit too idol worshiping for my taste
Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 1999
The author seems to have an underlying and (in my view) childish reverence for Freud and analysis, and this harmed the book, in my opinion.
11 people found this helpful
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B
5.0 out of 5 stars I highly recommend it. Laypersons may need to consult a secondary ...
Reviewed in the United States on September 6, 2014
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As a psychiatrist, I found this to be a page turner. It provides a rare look inside the clannish, often contradictory world of psychoanalytic training and treatment. Analysis is a highly obtuse and boutique type of treatment that has largely been supplanted by evidenced-based and biological treatments. That being said, it provides the foundation for our current understanding of psychiatry as a way to think about mental health. For those in the mental health world, I highly recommend it. Laypersons may need to consult a secondary source for some of the terms and concepts, but is illuminating nonetheless.
11 people found this helpful
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Gary M. Duszynski
4.0 out of 5 stars Learn what its like on the other side of the Couch!
Reviewed in the United States on December 1, 2018
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The mind is a powerful tool and can do amazing feats and amazing damage. To get a view of what it s like on the psychoanalysts perspective was fascinating and at time disturbing. A truly worthwhile read.
4 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Jonathan Yudelowitz
5.0 out of 5 stars Sharp, perspicacious, witty
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 27, 2021
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Janet Malcom, as usual, held the fine line between challenging the hubris and cult-like elements of Psychoanalysis, whilst remaining curious and respectful at the same time. I learnt a lot, smiled a lot and felt challenged whilst reading this book.
6 people found this helpful
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Sameer Chandra
1.0 out of 5 stars Bit of a waste of time
Reviewed in India on January 16, 2016
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To be read by people of the psychoanalysis profession. The language is lingo-laced, and gets boring after a while. Like studying a text book

Plus the style of writing relies on quotes, making it sound not original at all
3 people found this helpful
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T
5.0 out of 5 stars From hysterical misery to everyday unhappiness
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 25, 2021
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Very well written. useful brief summary of Freud. Many interesting stories of mid C20th American psychoanalysis.
3 people found this helpful
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Fran
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 4, 2016
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I've read Freud, Jung and psychology for the past forty years. Every now and again I come across a real gem that brings the last hundred years kicking and screaming into the 21st century. This book is amongst the best I've read that does this and some. Freud is just as relevant today as he ever was.
6 people found this helpful
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Mrs K Lock
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 19, 2015
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Well written informative book ...quick delivery ..
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