From Psychoanalysis to Group Analysis: The Pioneering Work of Trigant Burrow

This volume gathers a selection of psychoanalytic and group analytic essays by Trigant Burrow (1875-1950), precursor of group analysis and co-founder of the American Psychoanalytic Association. They show the development of the relational orientation in psychoanalysis, and the origin and evolution of group analysis, "meant primarily as a social conception of the human being, as well as a therapeutic means, applicable both to dual and group settings".

The events that led Burrow from psychoanalysis to group analysis, the censorship of the psychoanalytic orthodoxy, the silence of group analysis and the distortions of historiography are reported in the editors’ introductory essay.The book presents the richness and originality of the theoretic, clinical, and methodological themes developed by Burrow either in the psychoanalytic or the group analytic fields. Such themes are still questioned and the object of study, among which stands out for its topicality the Principle of Primary Identification of the infant with the mother which Burrow connected to the study of narcissism, homosexuality, and incest, besides the relativity of consciousness which implies the abrogation of the absolutistic conception inherent in the observation as a mirror of reality, and the observer-analyst’s neutral position.

The book represents a work of significant value on the historical, epistemological, theoretic-clinical-methodological, and social aspect, as it evidences the relevancy and topicality of Burrow’s research, from which one may draw new clinic-theoretic proposals to face the unsolved problems of our time.