Psychoanalysis — BF 173–175.5

Josef Breuer and Sigmund Freud — Studies on Hysteria (1895)

Breuer, Josef, and Sigmund Freud. Studies on Hysteria. Translated and edited by James Strachey. New York: Basic Books, 2000

Breuer and Freud's Studies on Hysteria, published in 1895, is the founding document of psychoanalysis. The five case studies – including Breuer's Anna O. and Freud's Dora, Emmy von N., Lucy R., Katharina, and Elisabeth von R. – introduce the cathartic method, the concept of psychic trauma, the role of affect in symptom formation, and the technique of allowing patients to speak freely about their experiences. The theoretical chapter by Freud introduces the concept of repression and the dynamic unconscious. The James Strachey translation in the Standard Edition (vol. 2) is the standard scholarly text; the Penguin Freud Library version edited by Angela Richards is more accessible.

Sigmund Freud — Project for a Scientific Psychology (1895)

Freud, Sigmund. Project for a Scientific Psychology. Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works, vol. 1. London: Hogarth Press, 1953

Freud's Project for a Scientific Psychology, written in 1895 but unpublished in his lifetime and first published in the Origins of Psychoanalysis (1954), is the most important document for understanding the neurological foundations of Freud's psychological theory. The Project attempts to reduce psychological phenomena – memory, wish, attention, consciousness – to a neuroscientific model based on neurones, quantities of psychic energy, and synaptic barriers. Though Freud abandoned the neurological framework, the conceptual architecture of the Project persists throughout his later metapsychology. The James Strachey translation in the Standard Edition (vol. 1) is the standard scholarly text.

Jean-Martin Charcot — Clinical Lectures on Diseases of the Nervous System (1877)

Charcot, Jean-Martin. Clinical Lectures on Diseases of the Nervous System. 3 vols. Translated by Thomas Savill. London: New Sydenham Society, 1877–1889

Charcot's Clinical Lectures on Diseases of the Nervous System, published in three volumes between 1877 and 1889 and translated by Thomas Savill for the New Sydenham Society, documents the clinical and theoretical work at the Salpêtrière hospital that directly influenced Freud's understanding of hysteria and hypnosis. Charcot's demonstration that hysteria was a genuine neurological condition with consistent symptoms, and his use of hypnosis to reproduce and eliminate hysterical symptoms, gave Freud the empirical foundation and institutional legitimacy for his own investigations. Essential for understanding the clinical context from which psychoanalysis emerged.

Pierre Janet — The Mental State of Hystericals (1893)

Janet, Pierre. The Mental State of Hystericals. Translated by Caroline Corson. New York: Putnam, 1901

Janet's L'État mental des hystériques, published in 1893 and translated in 1901, is the most important clinical and theoretical document of the French psychological tradition that ran parallel to and competed with Freud's psychoanalysis. Janet's concept of dissociation, his analysis of subconscious fixed ideas, and his treatment of traumatic hysteria developed a sophisticated psychological account of neurotic symptoms that anticipated many of Freud's conclusions by different means. The debate about priority between Janet and Freud is historically significant. The translation by Caroline Corson published by Putnam is the standard English edition.

Sigmund Freud — The Interpretation of Dreams (1899)

Freud, Sigmund. The Interpretation of Dreams. Translated by Joyce Crick. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999

Freud's Die Traumdeutung, published in November 1899 with the date 1900, is the work Freud considered his most important and the one that introduces the concept of the unconscious wish as the motivating force of mental life. The analysis of manifest and latent dream content, the mechanisms of condensation, displacement, and secondary revision, and the model of the psyche as driven by the pleasure principle are all introduced here. The James Strachey translation in the Standard Edition (vols. 4–5) is the scholarly standard; the Oxford World's Classics translation by Joyce Crick is the most accurate and readable for general collections.

Hippolyte Bernheim — Suggestive Therapeutics (1886)

Bernheim, Hippolyte. Suggestive Therapeutics: A Treatise on the Nature and Uses of Hypnotism. Translated by Christian A. Herter. New York: Putnam, 1889

Bernheim's De la Suggestion dans l'état hypnotique et dans l'état de veille, translated as Suggestive Therapeutics in 1889, is the foundational document of the Nancy school of hypnosis that rivaled Charcot's Salpêtrière school. Bernheim argued that hypnotic phenomena were the result of suggestion rather than a distinct neurological state, and that suggestibility was a normal property of the human mind. Freud translated an earlier Bernheim work into German in 1888 and was directly influenced by the Nancy school's approach. Essential for the history of hypnosis and its relationship to psychoanalysis.

Friedrich Nietzsche — On the Genealogy of Morality (1887)

Nietzsche, Friedrich. On the Genealogy of Morality. Translated by Carol Diethe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006

Nietzsche's Zur Genealogie der Moral, published in 1887, is included here because of its profound influence on Freud's understanding of repression, guilt, the unconscious transformation of drives, and the cultural suppression of instinct. Though not a psychological work in the BF classification's strict sense, Nietzsche's genealogical method and his analysis of ressentiment, bad conscience, and ascetic ideals anticipated Freud's cultural psychology and are essential for understanding the intellectual context of psychoanalysis. The Cambridge edition translated by Carol Diethe is the standard scholarly text.

Arthur Schopenhauer — The World as Will and Representation (2 vols.) (2 vols.) (1818)

Schopenhauer, Arthur. The World as Will and Representation. 2 vols. Translated by E. F. J. Payne. New York: Dover, 1966

Schopenhauer's Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung, first published in 1818, anticipated several of Freud's central concepts: the primacy of irrational will over intellect, the role of sexuality as the principal expression of will, the concept of repression, and the possibility of insight into the nature of motivation. Freud acknowledged Schopenhauer's priority on several of these points. The E. F. J. Payne translation published by Dover is the standard English edition. Included as essential background for understanding the philosophical preconditions of psychoanalysis.

Sigmund Freud — Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (1905)

Freud, Sigmund. Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality. Standard Edition, vol. 7. London: Hogarth Press, 1953

Freud's Drei Abhandlungen zur Sexualtheorie, published in 1905, is the foundational document of psychoanalytic developmental theory and the work that introduced the concepts of infantile sexuality, polymorphous perversion, the Oedipus complex, and the psychosexual stages of development. The theory of sexuality elaborated here – that adult neurosis has its roots in the transformations and fixations of infantile sexual development – is the empirical core of classical psychoanalysis. The James Strachey translation in the Standard Edition (vol. 7) is the scholarly standard; the Martino Publishing edition is the most accessible reprint.

Carl Gustav Jung — Psychological Types (1921)

Jung, Carl Gustav. Psychological Types. Collected Works, vol. 6. Translated by H. G. Baynes, revised by R. F. C. Hull. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1971

Jung's Psychologische Typen, published in 1921 and translated by H. G. Baynes as the authorized English version in 1923, is the foundational work of Jungian analytical psychology and the source of the introversion/extraversion distinction that has become the most widely used typological concept in personality psychology. Jung's analysis of the psychological functions (thinking, feeling, sensation, intuition) and attitudes (introversion, extraversion) provides the theoretical framework for the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and its descendants. The Collected Works edition (vol. 6) published by Princeton University Press is the standard scholarly text.

Melanie Klein — The Psycho-Analysis of Children (1932)

Klein, Melanie. The Psycho-Analysis of Children. 3rd ed. Translated by Alix Strachey. New York: Delacorte Press, 1975

Klein's The Psycho-Analysis of Children, first published in 1932, is the foundational document of object relations theory and the work that established child psychoanalysis as a clinical and theoretical enterprise. Klein's account of the paranoid-schizoid and depressive positions, the role of early object relations in the development of the ego, and the centrality of envy and gratitude in psychological life defined a distinctly British psychoanalytic tradition that diverged sharply from Freudian ego psychology. The third edition revised by Alix Strachey and published by Hogarth Press/Delacorte is the standard scholarly text.

D. W. Winnicott — Playing and Reality (1971)

Winnicott, D. W. Playing and Reality. London: Routledge, 1991

Winnicott's Playing and Reality, published in 1971, collects his most important theoretical papers, including the foundational accounts of transitional objects and transitional phenomena, the capacity for play as the basis of psychological health, and the role of the good-enough mother in ego development. Winnicott's distinctive contribution to object relations theory – the emphasis on creative play, the true and false self, and the environmental provision that facilitates healthy development – has had enormous influence on child therapy, developmental psychology, and the theory of creativity. The Routledge edition is the standard scholarly text.

Heinz Kohut — The Analysis of the Self (1971)

Kohut, Heinz. The Analysis of the Self. New York: International Universities Press, 1971

Kohut's The Analysis of the Self, published by International Universities Press in 1971, is the foundational document of self psychology, the theoretical framework that displaced ego psychology as the dominant school in American psychoanalysis from the 1970s onward. Kohut argues that classical drive theory and structural conflict are inadequate for understanding narcissistic personality organization, and he develops a new metapsychology centered on the self and its developmental needs for mirroring, idealization, and twinship. The International Universities Press edition is the standard scholarly text.

Jacques Lacan — Écrits: A Selection (1966)

Lacan's Écrits, published in French in 1966 and translated by Bruce Fink for W. W. Norton in 2002 in a complete English edition, collects the foundational papers of Lacanian psychoanalysis: the mirror stage, the function of language in the unconscious, the four fundamental concepts of psychoanalysis, and the tripartite structure of the Imaginary, Symbolic, and Real. Lacan's reinterpretation of Freud through structural linguistics and topology is enormously influential in continental European psychoanalysis and in literary and cultural theory. The Fink translation is far superior to the earlier Sheridan translation for scholarly use.

Heinz Hartmann — Ego Psychology and the Problem of Adaptation (1939)

Hartmann, Heinz. Ego Psychology and the Problem of Adaptation. Translated by David Rapaport. New York: International Universities Press, 1958

Hartmann's Ich-Psychologie und das Anpassungsproblem, published in German in 1939 and translated in 1958, is the foundational document of ego psychology, the theoretical revision of psychoanalysis that became dominant in American practice from the 1940s through the 1960s. Hartmann introduces the concept of the conflict-free ego sphere – the autonomous ego functions that develop independently of drive conflict – and argues that psychoanalysis needs a comprehensive theory of adaptation to the social environment. The International Universities Press translation by David Rapaport is the standard scholarly text.

Adolf Grünbaum — The Foundations of Psychoanalysis (1984)

Grünbaum, Adolf. The Foundations of Psychoanalysis: A Philosophical Critique. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984

Grünbaum's The Foundations of Psychoanalysis: A Philosophical Critique, published by University of California Press in 1984, is the most rigorous philosophical analysis of the epistemological foundations of Freudian psychoanalysis. Grünbaum argues, against Popper, that psychoanalysis is not unfalsifiable; but he also argues that the clinical evidence Freud adduced for his central theoretical claims is methodologically contaminated by suggestion and that alternative sources of evidence are needed. The book is the standard reference for philosophy of science debates about psychoanalysis.

Alfred Adler — The Practice and Theory of Individual Psychology (1923)

Adler, Alfred. The Practice and Theory of Individual Psychology. Translated by Paul Radin. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1927

Adler's The Practice and Theory of Individual Psychology, published in English translation in 1923, is the most systematic statement of individual psychology, the school Adler founded after his break with Freud in 1911. Adler's emphasis on social interest, the striving for superiority, the inferiority complex, and the importance of the life style as a coherent pattern of goals and strategies defines a distinctly social and teleological alternative to Freudian drive theory. Individual psychology's influence on Adlerian therapy, cognitive therapy, and the positive psychology movement has been substantial. The Harcourt, Brace translation by Paul Radin is the standard scholarly text.

W. Ronald D. Fairbairn — Psychoanalytic Studies of the Personality (1952)

Fairbairn, W. Ronald D. Psychoanalytic Studies of the Personality. London: Tavistock, 1952

Fairbairn's Psychoanalytic Studies of the Personality, published by Tavistock in 1952, collects his most important theoretical papers and constitutes the most radical revision of Freudian drive theory within the psychoanalytic tradition. Fairbairn argues that the fundamental motivational force in human psychology is object-seeking rather than pleasure-seeking, and he develops a structural model of the psyche based entirely on internal object relations rather than drives. His work is the direct precursor of Winnicott's and Bowlby's contributions and is essential for understanding the development of object relations theory.

Stephen A. Mitchell — Relationality: From Attachment to Intersubjectivity (2000)

Mitchell, Stephen A. Relationality: From Attachment to Intersubjectivity. Hillsdale, NJ: Analytic Press, 2000

Mitchell's Relationality, published by Analytic Press in 2000, is the foundational statement of relational psychoanalysis, the theoretical orientation that has become the dominant paradigm in American psychoanalysis in the early twenty-first century. Mitchell argues that the relational matrix – the patterns of interaction between self and other – is the fundamental unit of psychological analysis, replacing both drive theory and object relations theory. Relational psychoanalysis integrates contributions from intersubjective theory, self psychology, and feminist psychoanalysis into a coherent framework.

Mark Solms — The Brain and the Inner World (2002)

Solms, Mark, and Oliver Turnbull. The Brain and the Inner World: An Introduction to the Neuroscience of Subjective Experience. New York: Other Press, 2002

Solms and Turnbull's The Brain and the Inner World, published by Other Press in 2002, is the most accessible and scientifically rigorous account of neuropsychoanalysis – the project of reconciling Freudian metapsychology with contemporary neuroscience. Solms brings extensive clinical experience in neuropsychology to bear on psychoanalytic concepts, arguing that the Freudian unconscious, the pleasure principle, and the dreamwork all have plausible neural correlates. The book opened a dialogue between psychoanalysis and neuroscience that has generated a substantial research literature.

Peter Fonagy, György Gergely, Elliot Jurist, and Mary Target — Affect Regulation, Mentalization, and the Development of the Self (2002)

Fonagy, Peter, György Gergely, Elliot L. Jurist, and Mary Target. Affect Regulation, Mentalization, and the Development of the Self. New York: Other Press, 2002

Fonagy and colleagues' Affect Regulation, Mentalization, and the Development of the Self, published by Other Press in 2002, is the most influential theoretical work in contemporary psychoanalysis. Fonagy integrates developmental research on attachment with psychoanalytic object relations theory through the concept of mentalization – the capacity to understand behavior in terms of mental states. The book provides an empirically grounded account of how early attachment relationships shape the capacity for affect regulation and self-reflection and has become the theoretical foundation of mentalization-based treatment.

Otto F. Kernberg — Borderline Conditions and Pathological Narcissism (2004)

Kernberg, Otto F. Borderline Conditions and Pathological Narcissism. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2004

Kernberg's Borderline Conditions and Pathological Narcissism, originally published in 1975 and available in the 2004 Rowman and Littlefield edition, is the foundational work on personality organization and the standard reference for the object relations theory of personality disorders. Kernberg develops the concept of borderline personality organization – a level of personality pathology between neurotic and psychotic organization – and provides a comprehensive theoretical account of narcissistic and borderline conditions that integrates Kleinian object relations theory with ego psychology. Essential for any comprehensive psychoanalysis collection.

Rachel B. Blass and Zvi Carmeli — The Case Against Neuropsychoanalysis (2007)

Blass, Rachel B., and Zvi Carmeli. The Case Against Neuropsychoanalysis. International Journal of Psychoanalysis 88, no. 6 (2007): 1355–1384

Blass and Carmeli's 'The Case Against Neuropsychoanalysis,' published in the International Journal of Psychoanalysis (vol. 88), presents the most important critique of the neuropsychoanalysis movement. The authors argue that the project of grounding psychoanalytic concepts in neuroscience misunderstands the nature of psychoanalytic explanation, which operates at a psychological rather than neural level, and that apparent convergences between psychoanalysis and neuroscience mask fundamental incommensurabilities. Essential for collections documenting the debate about the future of psychoanalytic theory.

Drew Westen — The Scientific Legacy of Sigmund Freud (1998)

Westen, Drew. The Scientific Legacy of Sigmund Freud: Toward a Psychodynamically Informed Psychological Science. Psychological Bulletin 124, no. 3 (1998): 333–371

Westen's 'The Scientific Legacy of Sigmund Freud: Toward a Psychodynamically Informed Psychological Science,' published in Psychological Bulletin in 1998 (vol. 124), is the most cited defense of psychoanalytic concepts in the empirical psychological literature. Westen argues that a substantial body of experimental and clinical research supports core psychoanalytic propositions about unconscious mental processes, affect regulation, and the role of early experience – even if Freud's specific theoretical framework requires revision. Essential for collections documenting the empirical rehabilitation of psychodynamic psychology.

Jeremy D. Safran, ed. — Psychoanalysis and Buddhism (2003)

Safran, Jeremy D., ed. Psychoanalysis and Buddhism: An Unfolding Dialogue. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2003

Safran's edited volume Psychoanalysis and Buddhism: An Unfolding Dialogue, published by Wisdom Publications in 2003, documents the most productive interdisciplinary engagement in contemporary psychoanalysis – the dialogue between psychoanalytic theory and Buddhist psychology. Contributors include Mark Epstein, Jeffery Rubin, and Barry Magid. The dialogue has produced significant revisions in both psychoanalytic theory (particularly around self-experience and the nature of therapeutic change) and in Buddhist psychological understanding, and represents one of the most intellectually serious cross-cultural engagements in contemporary psychology.

Beatrice Beebe and Frank M. Lachmann — Infant Research and Adult Treatment (2002)

Beebe, Beatrice, and Frank M. Lachmann. Infant Research and Adult Treatment: Co-Constructing Interactions. Hillsdale, NJ: Analytic Press, 2002

Beebe and Lachmann's Infant Research and Adult Treatment: Co-Constructing Interactions, published by Analytic Press in 2002, integrates systematic microanalytic research on mother-infant interaction with psychoanalytic clinical theory. The authors demonstrate how the nonverbal communication patterns established in early infancy become the template for adult relational patterns and show how this research can inform clinical technique. The book exemplifies the empirical turn in contemporary relational psychoanalysis and the increasing dialogue between developmental research and psychoanalytic practice.

André Green — The Work of the Negative (1999)

Green, André. The Work of the Negative. Translated by Andrew Weller. London: Free Association Books, 1999

Green's The Work of the Negative, translated by Andrew Weller for Free Association Books in 1999, is the most important theoretical contribution from the French psychoanalytic tradition after Lacan. Green develops the concept of negative hallucination and the work of the negative – processes of de-investment, destruction, and absence that are as constitutive of mental life as positive investments and representations. Green's integration of Freudian, Kleinian, and Winnicottian frameworks defines a European alternative to American relational psychoanalysis and is essential for comprehensive collections.