The Political Psyche

About this book

What can depth psychology and politics offer each other? In The Political Psyche Andrew Samuels shows how the inner journey of analysis and psychotherapy and the passionate political convictions of the outer world are linked. He brings an acute psychological perspective to bear on public themes such as the market economy environmentalism nationalism and anti-semitism. But true to his aim of setting in motion a two-way process between depth psychology and politics he also lay bare the hidden politics of the father the male body and of mens issue generally. A special feature of the book is an international survey into what analysts and psychotherapists do when their patients/clients bring overtly political material into the clinical setting. The results including what the respondents reveal about their own political attitudes destabilize any preconceived notions about the political sensitivity of analysis and psychotherapy.