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So, what's new in A New Freudian Synthesis? This volume—edited by Andrew B. Druck, Carolyn Ellman, Norbert Freedman, and Aaron Thaler—presents the reader with a fascinating amalgam of detailed clinical cases—including some theoretical discussion— from a group of contemporary Freudian psychoanalysts. The chapter authors (Andrew B. Druck, Sheldon Bach, Marvin Hurvich, Aaron Thaler, Mary Libbey, Carolyn Ellman, Jay Frankel, Neal Vorus, Michal Talby-Abarbanel, Gil A. Katz, and Norbert Freedman) were asked to show how they have understood the work of earlier theorists, and how they have integrated this work with their current psychoanalytic practice. The authors did not have knowledge of their fellow contributors' chapters, which allowed for a relatively unobstructed snapshot of the current Freudian landscape. This landscape is viewed primarily as through a telephoto lens, providing sharp detail of specific, unique, and interesting elements of psychoanalytic process. Several chapters also offer a view through a wide-angle lens, in an effort to reformulate classical theory by incorporating recent developments and trends in psychoanalysis.
The chapters are varied in both breadth and depth, and include a focus on (a) metapsychology—modern conflict and structural theory (Druck), states of consciousness (Bach), annihilation anxiety (Hurvich), and a new Freudian synthesis (Freedman); (b) clinical theory and technique—anonymity (Ellman), identification with the aggressor and play (Frankel), and therapeutic action (Vorus); and (c) clinical phenomena—regression and recovery (Thaler), narcissism (Libbey), and trauma and enactment (Talby-Abarbanel and Katz). Given the sheer variety of topics, understanding what is new, here, may require that we first categorize what is under discussion. Distinctions among theory, method, and technique may be useful in this regard (see Rapaport, 1944, for an extensive discussion of this topic).
A theory is a way of understanding a phenomenon that requ