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Clinical Encounters and the Lacanian Analyst: Who's your Dora?

Author(s) : Dries Dulsster

Reviews and Endorsements

In his postscript to The Question of Lay Analysis, Freud famously stated that a psychoanalyst cannot treat a patient without learning something new. And indeed, it would not be an exaggeration to say that it was the young woman Freud called ‘Dora’ who taught him about the importance of transference. In this riveting set of frank interviews with an international cast of practicing psychoanalysts, which is bookended by two contextualising reflections, Dulsster uses this ‘Dora-principle’ to ask his interlocutors about the patients who helped shape their own clinical work. The result is a truly original and invariably fascinating series of reflections on how all psychoanalysts come to reinvent clinical practice for themselves by virtue of their patients. This book is essential reading for trainees and established clinicians alike, across the spectrum of mental health care providers.
Dany Nobus, Professor of Psychoanalytic Psychology, Brunel University London, UK; Founding Scholar, British Psychoanalytic Council

At last(!), a compelling ‘spoken’ account of Lacanian clinical work which relies on the verbal interchange rather than on theoretical exposition in order to re-orient us regards fundamental psychoanalytic concepts. In an inspired move, Dulsster invites many of the most renowned Lacanian practitioners onto the couch so as to reflect on their formative experiences as clinicians. What emerges is an essential account of the idiosyncrasies underlying psychoanalytic formation and of the singularity of what it means to truly listen to those who enter the analytic situation.
Derek Hook, Associate Professor of Psychology, Duquesne University, USA; co-editor of the Reading Lacan’s Ecrits series; and author of Six Moments in Lacan

Clinical Encounters and the Lacanian Analyst is an inspiring text for both new and seasoned psychoanalysts. With an exquisite light touch, Dulsster interviews nine practitioners who generously offer their clinical resourcefulness and dexterity, as well as share fertile moments of speech effects for both the patient and the analyst, including those of failure, in cases that are significant to their own formation. The book shows how patients teach analysts to be better analysts. It demystifies Lacanian practice, highlights its diversity, and demonstrates its power and relevance in any healthcare setting. Once you pick up this book, you won't be able to put it down. It's a great read!
Eve Watson, psychoanalyst, Dublin, Ireland; co-editor of Critical Essays on the Drive: Lacanian Theory and Practice