Reclaiming One's Being: Brandchaft's Emancipatory Vision—Review of “Toward an Emancipatory Psychoanalysis: Brandchaft's Intersubjective Vision,” by Brandchaft, Doctors and Sorter

The right to search for the truth implies also a duty; one must not conceal any part of what one has recognized to be true [Albert Einstein1 as quoted in Brandchaft, Doctors and Sorter, 2010, p. 128].

Some books should carry a warning label: “Beware: Contents may be perturbing!” Not all books need this, of course. Many offer a new perspective on a theoretical issue or clinical conundrum and, in the process, expand our thinking. This requires no warning, for it is exactly the sort of intellectual and clinical stimulation that we hope a good book will provide.

Then there are books that do more than inform our thinking. They call for deeper reflection and, thus, leave us a bit more unsettled. Such a book does not simply challenge theoretical assumptions, nor does it merely influence our clinical sensibilities. It may do all of this, of course, but that remains in the realm of what we hope for and expect from a good book. Rather, if taken seriously, this kind of book can have a more dramatic and lasting impact. It can change our lives and relationships.

So consider yourself forewarned—Toward an Emancipatory Psychoanalysis, by Bernard Brandchaft, Shelley Doctors, and Dorienne Sorter (2010) is the second type of book. It demands more than an intellectual read. It calls for personal reflection. Brandchaft et al. not only describe the accommodative systems that enslave many of our patients, they challenge each of us to reflect on personal loyalties that constrict the recognition and expression of individual subjective experience. They ask us to consider whether we implicitly preserve these loyalties at the cost of delineating our own distinctive perspectives and encouraging our patients to discover and express their subjectivities. Reading this book will most certainly affect how you think, but it will also prompt you to reflect on how you listen and respond to others.

This is precisely why it is an important book to re