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From Soma to Symbol: Psychosomatic Conditions and Transformative Experience

Editor : Phyllis L. Sloate

Reviews and Endorsements

‘Phyllis L. Sloate’s book is a crucial publication for psychoanalysts at a time when somatic disorders are becoming ever more salient among our patients’ complaints. The author prefaces a broad overview of modern psychosomatics rooted in the unity of psyche and soma with a fascinating look back to the very beginnings of the field. Throughout, rich and lively clinical cases illustrate the theoretical developments and encourage us to deepen our thinking about psychosomatic disorders and their treatment.’
- Marilia Aisenstein, training analyst at the Paris Psychoanalytical Society, and coeditor of Psychosomatics Today: A Psychoanalytic Perspective

‘Psychoanalysis is being re-energised from work in the neurosciences regarding affect, implicit memory and unrepresented states of mind, and this volume is a significant and timely contribution to this reassessment of the mind–body relationship. The vigour of the contributions in this volume vitalises an aspect of clinical work, psychosomatic phenomena, which has puzzled psychoanalytic clinicians for decades. It also illustrates the invaluable contribution that accompanies open-mindedness to the wide array of viewpoints based on an appreciation of how difference in perspectives can inform rather than divide us in our psychoanalytic explorations.’
- Maxine K. Anderson, MD, training and supervising analyst, Northwestern Psychoanalytic Institute & Society

‘Phyllis L. Sloate’s brilliant, lucid integration of the history and state of the art thinking about working with psychosomatic patients sets the tone for numerous clinical examples from senior psychoanalysts on the struggle to help these patients find a language for their suffering. It is a book that takes an international perspective with a nuanced understanding that clearly outlines similarities and differences amongst different cultures. Psychoanalytic clinicians will find this an invaluable guide in working with these patients.’
- Fred Busch, PhD, FIPA, author of Creating a Psychoanalytic Mind

‘This new volume is a vital contribution to the evolving psychoanalytic literature on psychosomatic disorders. For more than a hundred years, these perplexing conditions have inspired competing theories and approaches that have divided the international psychoanalytic community into isolated and parochial thought collectives. This volume demonstrates that in this new century, even as brain science and allied disciplines mature, even as competing clinical intervention models are introduced, psychoanalysis still has an irreplaceable and invaluable contribution to make to the understanding of mental life and its relationship to bodily experience.’
- Robert L. Pyles, MD, Past-President, American Psychoanalytic Association