Greed: Developmental, Cultural, and Clinical Realms
Book Details
- Publisher : Routledge
- Published : June 2015
- Cover : Paperback
- Pages : 264
- Category :
Psychoanalysis - Catalogue No : 36651
- ISBN 13 : 9781782202554
- ISBN 10 : 1782202552
Also by Salman Akhtar
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Though references to it are scattered in the writings of Klein and Winnicott, the topic of greed has drawn meagre attention from contemporary psychoanalysts. This book fills that lacuna. Noting that the inconsolable, relentless, and coercive dimensions of such hunger have profoundly destructive impact upon the self and its objects, Greed: Developmental, Cultural, and Clinical Realms sheds light on the emotion’s myriad manifestations as well as its camouflage by the ego’s defensive operations. Issues of childhood deprivation, adolescent novelty-seeking, and clinging to the object-world toward the end of life are examined. The avarice that prevails in today’s business world is discussed, as is the deleterious impact of greed upon marital relations. More to the clinician’s interest, the book highlights the various ways in which greed makes its appearance during treatment, taking into account the tabooed topic of the analyst’s own greed for money, prestige, and intellectual prowess. A remarkable contribution, indeed!
Reviews and Endorsements
‘This superbly edited volume explores greed within the microcosms of psychoanalytic situations of both patients and analysts, as well as within the context of contemporary society at large. Hardly addressed by Freud, greed drew the attention of Klein who placed its destructive potential within the centrality of infantile experience, and Winnicott who discerned the robust health in greed and its seemingly abhorrent manifestations. This exceptional contemporary volume by Akhtar and fellow psychoanalysts not only explicates the tensions between these polarities but also tackles the wide-ranging phenomena related to greed in the psychoanalytic depth they deserve.’
–– Jaswant Guzder, MD, Professor, McGill Faculty of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, and Associate at the McGill Faculty of Social Work
‘If you thought greed meant just wanting too much, you will be astounded, reading this book, at the psychological richness of greed’s manifestations and causes. The examples collected by Salman Akhtar and his contributors include the ‘primal greed’ to possess women that appears in men’s sexual fantasies; ‘anticipatory greed’ which occurs in teenage girls’ icon-crushes; and greed in relation to time management and end-of-life attitudes. In this book you will experience a modern, theoretical romp through greed in the psychotherapeutic situation. If you are greedy for new, useful knowledge, you will thoroughly enjoy this superb compilation.’
–– Jerome S. Blackman, MD, DFAPA, FACPsa, Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, Eastern Virginia Medical School; Training Analyst, Contemporary Freudian Society, Washington, DC
About the Editor(s)
Salman Akhtar, MD, is professor of psychiatry at Jefferson Medical College and a training and supervising analyst at the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia. He has served on the editorial boards of the International Journal of Psychoanalysis and the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association. His more than 450 publications include twenty-three solo authored books – Broken Structures (1992), Quest for Answers (1995), Inner Torment (1999), Immigration and Identity (1999), New Clinical Realms (2003), Objects of Our Desire (2005), Regarding Others (2007), Turning Points in Dynamic Psychotherapy (2009), The Damaged Core (2009), Comprehensive Dictionary of Psychoanalysis (2009), Immigration and Acculturation (2011), Matters of Life and Death (2011), Psychoanalytic Listening (2013), Good Stuff (2013), Sources of Suffering (2014), No Holds Barred (2016), A Web of Sorrow (2017), Mind, Culture, and Global Unrest (2018), Silent Virtues (2019), Tales of Transformation (2022), In Leaps and Bounds (2022), and In Short (2024) – as well as sixty-nine edited or coedited volumes in psychiatry and psychoanalysis. Dr. Akhtar has delivered many prestigious addresses and lectures including, most significantly, the inaugural address at the first IPA-Asia Congress in Beijing, China (2010). Dr. Akhtar is the recipient of the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association’s Best Paper of the Year Award (1995), the Margaret Mahler Literature Prize (1996), the American Society of Psychoanalytic Physicians’ Sigmund Freud Award (2000), the American College of Psychoanalysts’ Laughlin Award (2003), the American Psychoanalytic Association’s Edith Sabshin Award (2000), Columbia University’s Robert Liebert Award for Distinguished Contributions to Applied Psychoanalysis (2004), the American Psychiatric Association’s Kun Po Soo Award (2004), the Irma Bland Award for being the Outstanding Teacher of Psychiatric Residents in the country (2005), and the Nancy Roeske Award (2012). He received the Sigourney Award (2013), which is the most prestigious honor in the field of psychoanalysis. Dr. Akhtar is an internationally sought speaker and teacher, and his books have been translated in many languages, including German, Turkish, and Romanian. His interests are wide and he has served as the film review editor for the International Journal of Psychoanalysis, and is currently serving as the book review editor for the International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies. He has published eighteen collections of poetry and serves as a scholar-in-residence at the Inter-Act Theatre Company in Philadelphia. His Selected Papers (Vols I–X) were recently published and released at a festive event held at the Freud House & Museum in London.
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