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Ever since the first publication of Freud's ideas, the scientific status, therapeutic efficacy and morality of psychoanalysis have come under attack from an often sceptical public and from certain sections of the academic community. Yet psychoanalysis has grown in public stature over the last century. It is held in high regard by many important thinkers for its valuable exploration and interpretation of human development in all its aspects. In academic disciplines ranging from literary criticism and feminist studies to psychotherapy, psychoanalysis is regarded as a key building block in understanding human subjectivity.

In this book, Stephen Frosh presents the arguments surrounding the therapeutic value and scientific standing of psychoanlaysis and examines its potency as a contributor to debates around gender, identity contructions, sexual orientation and racism. He asks whether psychoanalysis deepens our understanding of human functioning, whether it is consistent with its own theories, and how it relates to the pressures of culture and society.

Essential reading for psychoanalysts, counsellors and psychotherapists, For and Against Psychoanalysis provides a first-class introduction to the ideas behind psychoanalysis and the place it occupies in the modern world.