Primary Process Impacts and Dreaming the Undreamable Object in the Work of Michael Eigen

"Meaning in Eigen's works always reflects the readers' efforts as much as they do Eigen's. In this book, Eigen's experts creatively discuss Eigen's texts on primary process impacts and dreaming. What a life project these authors imagine – one that encourages us to grow the capacity to open up and welcome any experience, including catastrophic ones. Irrespective of your analytic school, this book will profoundly influence your understanding of patients because it articulates the most thorny dimensions of human existence – the scream inside, the catastrophic change, the primary emotional storm, vulnerability, and permeability." - Professor Aner Govrin, The Program for Hermeneutics & Cultural Studies, Bar-Ilan University, Israel

“This unique book Primary Process Impact and Dreaming the Undreamable Object in the Work of Michael Eigen edited in a highly committed way by Loray Daws and Keri Cohen, promises readers an extraordinary journey in which, chapter by chapter, fourteen authors, in a conversational style, share the inspirational work of Michael Eigen in both, clinically and personally. They also present sparkling and original ideas that show the creative internal dialogue that every author holds with Michael; in doing it, at every turn of the page, the reader will find infinite emotional experiences.” - Jani Santamaria, child and adult psychoanalyst, Mexican Psychoanalytic Association

This volume emerges as a breath of fresh air. Inspired by the work of Micheal Eigen, his many compatriots of writers, poets, and clinicians have recast the very nature of psychoanalysis, from one that was obsessively preoccupied with identifying and managing patient pathology, to the sublime study of what it means to become a vessel for healing, promoting health through the concept of the “Welcoming Object.” This immensely readable volume frees the practitioner from the repressive constructs of traditional psychoanalytic dogma to a new frontier of relational therapeutic encounter. Both building on and casting off the traditions psychoanalytic reasoning, this volume introduces us to a completely revolutionary paradigm that reformulates the concepts of transference, resistance, dream analysis, and relational encounter. This reformulation represents a much-needed refocusing of psychoanalytic theorizing and clinical application, creating a refreshing, humanely descriptive language to psychoanalytic rhetoric, that will no doubt define what psychoanalysis will look like in the years ahead. These many outstanding contributors are a testament to Michael Eigen’s growing legacy, replete with insight, passion, and the true poetic, and even mystical nature of psychoanalytic discourse. To that end, this enlightening volume’s central motif will, as Freud’s work once did, inspire generations of psychoanalysts that are to follow. Anyone interested in the deep study and advancement of the field as well as their practice, owes it to themselves to read this essential book. - Jack Schwartz, PsyD, NCPsyA,Faculty Member, Training and Supervising Analyst, The New Jersy Institute for Training in Psychoanalysis and Object Relations Institute, NYC

"Meaning in Eigen's works always reflects the readers' efforts as much as they do Eigen's. In this book, Eigen's experts creatively discuss Eigen's texts on primary process impacts and dreaming. What a life project these authors imagine – one that encourages us to grow the capacity to open up and welcome any experience, including catastrophic ones. Irrespective of your analytic school, this book will profoundly influence your understanding of patients because it articulates the most thorny dimensions of human existence – the scream inside, the catastrophic change, the primary emotional storm, vulnerability, and permeability." - Professor Aner Govrin, The Program for Hermeneutics & Cultural Studies, Bar-Ilan University, Israel

“This unique book Primary Process Impact and Dreaming the Undreamable Object in the Work of Michael Eigen edited in a highly committed way by Loray Daws and Keri Cohen, promises readers an extraordinary journey in which, chapter by chapter, fourteen authors, in a conversational style, share the inspirational work of Michael Eigen in both, clinically and personally. They also present sparkling and original ideas that show the creative internal dialogue that every author holds with Michael; in doing it, at every turn of the page, the reader will find infinite emotional experiences.” - Jani Santamaria, child and adult psychoanalyst, Mexican Psychoanalytic Association

This volume emerges as a breath of fresh air. Inspired by the work of Micheal Eigen, his many compatriots of writers, poets, and clinicians have recast the very nature of psychoanalysis, from one that was obsessively preoccupied with identifying and managing patient pathology, to the sublime study of what it means to become a vessel for healing, promoting health through the concept of the “Welcoming Object.” This immensely readable volume frees the practitioner from the repressive constructs of traditional psychoanalytic dogma to a new frontier of relational therapeutic encounter. Both building on and casting off the traditions psychoanalytic reasoning, this volume introduces us to a completely revolutionary paradigm that reformulates the concepts of transference, resistance, dream analysis, and relational encounter. This reformulation represents a much-needed refocusing of psychoanalytic theorizing and clinical application, creating a refreshing, humanely descriptive language to psychoanalytic rhetoric, that will no doubt define what psychoanalysis will look like in the years ahead. These many outstanding contributors are a testament to Michael Eigen’s growing legacy, replete with insight, passion, and the true poetic, and even mystical nature of psychoanalytic discourse. To that end, this enlightening volume’s central motif will, as Freud’s work once did, inspire generations of psychoanalysts that are to follow. Anyone interested in the deep study and advancement of the field as well as their practice, owes it to themselves to read this essential book. - Jack Schwartz, PsyD, NCPsyA,Faculty Member, Training and Supervising Analyst, The New Jersy Institute for Training in Psychoanalysis and Object Relations Institute, NYC