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Contemporary Object Relations in Los Angeles: Building on the Work of the London Kleinians

Editor : Jennifer Langham

Reviews and Endorsements

In her first book, London Kleinians in Los Angeles: Laying the Foundations of Object Relations Theory and Practice, Jennifer Langham introduces the reader to the profound influence these British analysts brought to Los Angeles in the 1960s and 1970s. Now, as a companion piece to the first volume, Langham acquaints us with the next generation of talented psychoanalysts. In this work, we see the unfolding and further rich development of the originators’ ideas in chapters written by Joseph Aguayo, Annie Reiner, Bernard Malin, and others. This book is an invaluable resource for those readers interested in the development of object relations theory and its application to clinical work, and I highly recommend Contemporary Object Relations in Los Angeles to clinical psychologists, psychoanalysts, and other clinicians at all levels of training.
Lawrence J. Brown, author, Transformational Processes in Clinical Psychoanalysis and On Freud’s Moses and Monotheism

While the migration of Kleinian analysts to Los Angeles in 1968 sparked conflict and controversy, it also foreshadowed the current movement in America towards internationalisation of psychoanalytic thinking and dialogue and planted the seeds of interest and understanding that have resulted in the contributions of the Psychoanalytic Center of California (PCC). Led and inspired by Wilfred Bion and Albert Mason, the latter to whom this book is dedicated, the analysts of PCC have absorbed, integrated, and enlarged the traditions of British Object Relations thinking. This book successfully illustrates the editor’s contention that PCC stands as “a vibrant centre of psychoanalytic learning and training with a continued focus on the work of Klein, Bion, Winnicott, … [and] a special emphasis on the understanding of primitive mental states”. It should prove of value and interest to analysts and analytic therapists at all levels of experience.
Howard B. Levine, editor-in-chief, The Routledge Wilfred R. Bion Studies Book Series

This far-reaching collection of essays, most original for the book, presents a spectrum of American Kleinian thinking from the analysts at The Psychoanalytic Center of California. The depth of clinical and theoretical thinking from contributors such as Joseph Aguayo, Greg Gorski, and Fred Vacquer shows the sophistication and dedication to Kleinian psychoanalysis. The clinical papers which predominate are filled with detailed, genuine, unfiltered clinical interactions, warts and all. The authentic sense of patient and analyst struggling with the seriousness of the task comes through again and again. Other intriguing papers on infant observation and particularly the papers by Jon Tabakin on interpretation and Annie Reiner on shame add theoretically sophisticated descriptions for readers at all levels of analytic knowledge. Jennifer Langham has given readers a chance to examine the rich and varied thinking of this original group of psychoanalysts far from London staying true to Kleinian ideas and clinical practice.
Abbot A. Bronstein, PhD, section editor, International Journal of Psychoanalysis’ Analyst at Work