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Title: The Emergent Ego: Complexity and Coevolution in the Psychoanalytic Process by Stanley R. Palombo, Stuart Kauffman ISBN: 0-8236-1666-5 Publisher: International Universities Press Pub. Date: 15 April, 1999 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $65.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.33 (3 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Interesting, but still a "just so" story?
Comment: I picked up this book because of previous familiarity with Stuart Kaufmanns other work. I have no academic background in psychology, but I have a general interest in this type of literature.
The general information on complexity science included in the book was very interesting, and included a section on the evolution of biochemistry which I had never seen before. The sections were also very well written and suitable for readers with little background in natural science. So full points for these sections of the book.
However, I had some trouble with the sections looking at psychoanalysis and comparing it to complex system theory. To my knowledge, traditional Freudian ideas about personality development have been much criticised in their own right. Is the authors use of these explanations for deeper psychological motivations in his patients earnest, or just an attempt at avoiding taking on too much controversy at the same time?
Personally, I find the analogy between complex system development and the process of going through personal development compelling. However, this book does not constitute proof that these processes are related in the way that the author states. It is probably difficult at this point in time to attain such proof, and I agree with people like Daniel Dennett that explanations based on analogies may not always be a bad thing. However, it's still possible for skeptics to dismiss these theories as "just so" stories. (Rudyard Kipling wrote a book of fables called "Just So Stories" and it has become a name for make-believe evolutionary explanations without sure proof).
Freuds ideas on what shapes us may not be scientifically sound, although the general process of therapy may be a process where slow progress is interspersed with more significant phase transitions. This may have nothing to do with Freudian theory, but could for example be a function of how our brain works, and work independently of the system of therapy employed. Modern theories on consciousness state that the brain is a self-organizing complex system. Thus, different therapeutic methods may trigger the same kind of underlying development process. The methods may not be equally good at achieving progress, and the choice of the best method may also depend on the nature of the patient's problem.
I would however encourage further scientific exploration of this theme, and this book is an important first step in that direction. I therefore recommend this to anyone interested in personal development, psychotherapy or psychoanalysis.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Monumental Contribution
Comment: This book results from the meeting of two extraordinary minds. Stanley Palombo is our leading psychoanalytic authority on dreaming and primary process mentation. His pioneering 1978 book, "Dreaming and Memory," replaced many of Freud's antiquated ideas about dreaming with a modern theory that takes account of both the basic information processing function of dreaming and the defensive alterations introduced into dreaming by the censorship mechanism Freud described. Stuart Kauffman is the brilliant exponent of complexity theory whose ideas have reshaped our understanding of the origins and evolution of life. Kauffman's universe is not a static residue of chance events but a material system that naturally promotes ever increasing diversity and complexity. In this book, Palombo turns to the questions raised by the therapeutic action of the psychoanalytic process. After reading Kauffman's "The Origins of Order," he travelled to the Santa Fe Insitute to discuss his own ideas on this critical topic with Kauffman. "The Emergent Ego" is the result of these discussions. Using the ideas of Kauffman and other complexity theorists to explain his own clinical observations, Palombo provides a coherent scientific understanding of the interaction between patient and analyst. In so doing, he demystifies the psychoanalytic process and exposes many of the technical errors induced by unjustified theoretical assumptions. "The Emergent Ego" offers a powerful cure for the doubts many people feel about the scientific validity of psychoanalysis and its value as a method of treatment for sufferers from emotional illness.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Revolutionary Book about Psychoanalysis
Comment: This book has transformed my understanding of the psychoanalytic process and how it works to benefit patients. Instead of a hodge-podge of isolated rules of thumb for psychoanalysis and psychodynamic psychotherapy, "The Emergent Ego" presents a coherent picture of the process through which evolutionary change takes place in treatment, in both the therapist and the patient. Palombo conceives of the therapeutic relationship as an ecosystem in which the analyst's knowledge of the patient and the patient's self-knowledge coevolve. This occurs through a continual updating and restructuring of the analytic discourse, the memories shared between patient and analyst of the events of the analysis, including the cumulative structure formed by the connections formulated by both partners in the relationship. Progress is marked by a series of phase transitions in the organization of the patient's mind, both conscious and unconscious. Since the phase transitions often appear to be sudden and discontinuous, the course of treatment may contain periods when nothing seems to be happening, but which then resolve into a sudden coming together of insight and feeling.
There is much more to this book than I can summarize in a paragraph or two. It introduces a new scientific paradigm that quahes any doubts about the scientific authenticity of psychoanalysis. I recommend it to anyone who is serious about understanding what psychoanalysis really is and how it can be done most effectively.
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Title: Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order by Steven Strogatz ISBN: 0786868449 Publisher: Hyperion Press Pub. Date: 05 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Consciousness: An Introduction by Susan J. Blackmore ISBN: 019515343X Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: October, 2003 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
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Title: The Human Web: A Bird's-Eye View of World History by John Robert McNeill, William Hardy McNeill ISBN: 039305179X Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: February, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: Designing the Molecular World by Philip Ball ISBN: 0691029008 Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr Pub. Date: 11 November, 1996 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Freedom Evolves by Daniel C. Dennett ISBN: 0670031860 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: 10 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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