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This enlightened new work by Stefano Bolognini is a major contribution to the field of psychoanalysis. If it were a textbook - and it might very well be utilized as such - students worldwide would without doubt look to it as a model of the most advanced and theoretically integrated thinking in the field today.
Bolognini's open-minded, non-tendentious approach to psychoanalytic theory and practice combined with his clinical wisdom and superb scholarship sets a standard not often equaled in the contemporary literature.
Bolognini is that rare psychoanalyst who does not have an emotional investment in, or bias toward, a particular theoretical position or way of working. Although fundamentally a Freudian who has a deep respect for, and appreciation of, classical theory, he also appreciates, and his clinical work can draw on, a wide range of approaches from Kleinian to Relational as the situation requires. This is because, being open-minded and free of the narrow - and limiting - bias that restricts the thinking of so many colleagues, he carries around with him a group of internal consultants - colleagues from different schools of thought to whom, when necessary he can turn for advice and guidance.
In an eloquent and well thought-out first chapter, Bolognini assails the narrow- minded attachment to particular theories and to the charismatic figures associated with them that bedevils our field. And although he has highest respect for Freud and his incomparable contributions to analysis, he also deplores the slavish loyalty to the Professor that in some quarters has retarded the advancement of psychoanalysis. By the same token, Bolognini is highly critical of the current trend in some training centers to disparage or diminish Freud in favor of authors viewed as more relevant to contemporary concerns. The hallmarks of Bolognini's approach to analysis, in other words, are balance and inclusiveness. Impressively, and most usefully, he balances the new with the old and embraces th