Daniel Kupermann 
Why Ferenczi? [EPUB ebook] 
the empathic style in psychoanalysis

Known for his willingness to take on ‘difficult’ cases, Sandór Ferenczi developed an original theory of traumatogenesis, based on the notion of disavowal (Verleugnung) of the unspeakable pain of the subject traumatized by the other, to whom he turns in search of testimony, recognition and reparation.

His subtle understanding of the fact that psychic trauma causes the subject to identify with the aggressor, followed by a narcissistic split, indicated the need to rethink clinical practice according to a psychoanalytic ethic of care. Ferenczi developed an emphatic style that was not only the main inspiration for some of the later developments in Freud’s conception of clinical practice, but was also significant for the work of authors such as Winnicott and Lacan, for whom the psychic work of the analyst is included in the process of working-through in analysis.

Table of Content

Introduction

1. Confusion of tongues: Freud, Ferenczi, and Serguéi Pankejeff

2. Limits and applicability of the active technique

3. Verleugnung: disavowal and the relational and social dimensions of trauma

4. The turning point of 1928 and the principles for an ethics of care in psychoanalysis

5. Neocatharsis and the sensitive way of working-through

6. Conclusion

7. References

About the author

Daniel Kupermann: É psicanalista e professor livre-docente do Instituto de Psicologia da Universidade de São Paulo. Atualmen­te é presidente do Grupo Brasileiro de Pesquisas Sándor Ferenczi e membro do board da International Sándor Ferenczi Network. É autor de diversos livros e de artigos publicados em francês, inglês, espanhol, italiano e português.