Erotic Revelations: Clinical applications and perverse scenarios

Andrea Celenza

Jun 2014 · Routledge

About this ebook

Erotic Revelations: Clinical Applications and Perverse Scenarios delves into erotic desires and fantasies ... above all, how our sexuality expresses our inner being and defines the ways in which we engage in the psychoanalytic situation. Andrea Celenza addresses the 'desexualization' of the psychoanalytic field by reclaiming sexuality as one of the many nexes that are of central concern to the patient. She illustrates a wide range of erotic manifestations (for both therapist and patient) and offers recommendations to practitioners for dealing with erotic material when it arises.

Andrea Celenza

has divided this book into two parts, with clinical, theoretical, and technical discussions in each chapter:

Part I:

Varieties and Meanings of Erotic Transferences and Countertransferences

Presents the varieties and meanings of erotic transferences and countertransferences common in clinical situations;

Includes case studies of erotic material used as examples of phases in treatment as well as moments of defensive impasse;

Includes discussions of the management of aggression, underlying merger fantasies, uses of countertransferences (in multiple forms), and dilemmas surrounding self-disclosure.

Part II: Perverse Scenarios Revisited

Reconceptualizes and restores the term perversion into the clinical lexicon;

Views perversion as a quality of relating rather than a specific action or behavior;

Presents a wide range of clinical illustrations that demonstrates the usefulness of this reformulation.

Erotic Revelations

puts sexuality back into psychoanalytic theorizing and makes a place for erotic transferences of whatever shape, in every analysis or therapy. With a strong clinical focus, this book will redefine how to work with many aspects of sex and gender in clinical psychoanalytic practice and will be an essential resource for psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, psychologists, educators, trainers, students and those with an interest in the mental health field.

About the author

Andrea Celenza is a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, and Assistant Clinical Professor at Harvard Medical School. She has authored numerous papers and two books on psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy. She is the recipient of several awards and is in private practice in Lexington, Massachusetts.