People's History of Psychoanalysis

In his book, analyst, teacher, and editorial member of the journal Chimères, Florent Gabarron-Garcia refutes the political neutrality of psychoanalysis. According to the author, it has always been an important part of public culture and cannot be conceived outside the context of world history. Gabarron-Garcia sheds light on the repressed and practically forgotten aspects of psychoanalysis that contradict the logic of capitalism, which it, like many other disciplines, follows today. By discussing the activities of Wilhelm Reich, Vera Schmidt, Marie Langer, Félix Guattari, and others, Gabarron-Garcia focuses on the revolutionary component of psychoanalysis and demonstrates how this discipline has served as a weapon in the struggle for emancipation.

The author's goal is to tell the reader a "people's" history of psychoanalysis: a history of resistance to the practices of punitive psychiatry, dictatorships, the "master" position of the analyst, and the effort to improve the lives of ordinary people.