Freud and Beyond; A History of Modern Psychoanalytic Thought, by Stephen A. Mitchell and Margaret J. Black,  Basic Books, 1996,  293 ps.

In the preface to this book, the authors state four myths about psychoanalysis that “have currency in both popular and scholarly spheres” (p. xvi). These myths are that psychoanalysis is largely the work of one man, that contemporary psychoanalysis, both in theory and practice, is largely unchanged since the time of Freud, that psychoanalysis has gone out of fashion, and that it is a cult requiring conversion and years of study. The body of this book is spent in attempting to debunk the first two of these myths. Thus, the authors' attempt to give an overview of the major schools of thought in contemporary psychoanalysis, beginning, of course, with Freud. They cover the basic tenets of ego psychology, interpersonal psychoanalysis, Kleinian theory, the British object relations school, self psychology, and some contemporary Freudian revisionists.

Each chapter begins by in some way grounding the theory to be covered in relation to Freudian theory. An aspect of Freudian theory is developed, and then the ways in which the contemporary theory under consideration differ are explained and elaborated upon. The authors attempt to explain the ways in which Freudian theory did not address certain aspects of human development and psychopathology, and show how the theory under consideration attempts to address these lacunae. There are frequent clinical examples that bring these differences to life and greatly help the reader to understand the points under consideration.

As the authors state in the preface, the material that they are trying to cover is vast. Therefore, no theory can be covered in great depth. However, the authors do succeed in giving the reader a good beginning understanding of the theories under consideration. Ironically, given the purpose of the book, the reader comes away knowing more about Freud and the development of his thought than of any of the other authors whose works are highlighted. This is particularly true in the first chapters, where the use of the met