Heinz Kohut's "How Does Analysis Cure?" is a significant work in self psychology. It explores the therapeutic process in psychoanalysis, emphasizing the role of empathy and the self in healing. Kohut developed a model of self psychology that focuses on the development and integration of the self. His work has had a significant impact on the understanding and treatment of narcissistic personality disorders. His contributions to the field of psychoanalysis remain highly influential.
Gohar Homayounpour's "Persian Blues, Psychoanalysis and Mourning" delves into themes of loss, love, and family against the backdrop of Iran's recent history. The book uses a unique narrative structure, blending personal reflections with psychoanalytic insights. Homayounpour explores the complexities of mourning and melancholia, challenging traditional psychoanalytic approaches. She examines the experiences of Iranian women, offering a nuanced perspective that transcends political agendas. The book's exploration of grief and the human condition resonates deeply with readers.
In this episode, Matthew Pieknik and Christopher Russell speak with Gohar Homayounpour about her book Persian Blues, Psychoanalysis and Mourning (Routledge, 2023)
Psychoanalysis is, Homayounpour tells us early in the interview, “a profession for dreamers, for people who don't know what to do with themselves. for freaks. This is not a profession for people in suits at universities who have a clear idea of the status quo. It's the absolute opposite. It's the carnival, you know, it's still unofficial, it's the subversive because that's the discourse of the unconscious. But this is a dangerous business, you know, and it should be for both analytic subjects in the room. I'm in favor of absence. I'm in favor of disturbance. I'm in favor of pollution and darkness. I think these are things that need to be celebrated.”
In Persian Blues, Psychoanalysis and Mourning, Gohar Homayounpour plays a theme and variations on loss, love, and family against the backdrop of Iran’s chaotic recent past. Homayounpour is simultaneously Shahrzad, the fearless storyteller, and Shahrzad’s analyst: subjecting fairy tales to fierce new insights, while weaving an indigo thread through her own devastation on the death of her father and the wonders and horrors of motherhood. A blue thread, or melody, runs though the separations and emigrations of her family and patients driven or broken apart by war, and likewise through the fraught world inhabited by Persian women. This book breaks new psychoanalytic ground, offering a radical rejection of traditional clichés about Iran, and Iranian women, but its unsparing elegance transcends any political agenda, bridging the ocean of a shared and tragic humanity. Persian Blues, Psychoanalysis and Mourning will be of great interest to psychoanalysts and psychoanalytically informed readers, as well as those interested in grief, Iran, and women’s experiences.
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