Psychoanalysis: For Connoisseurs. An Introductory Course in the History and Theory of Psychoanalysis

«Psychoanalysis: For Connoisseurs» — is a lively and accessible guide to the intriguing world of psychoanalysis. The author invites the reader on an exciting journey — from the origins of Sigmund Freud's teachings to the modern branches of this method. Without excessive simplification, but clearly and vividly, the book reveals the key concepts: the unconscious, the Oedipus complex, the dynamics of drives, the nature of dreams, and the mechanisms of psychological defenses.

Maria Chershintseva not only presents the theory but also narrates the dramatic history of the establishment of psychoanalysis through the fates of its founders and followers — Freud, Jung, Klein, Winnicott, Lacan, and others. The book answers the most common and uncomfortable questions: what really happens on the analyst's couch, why strict rules of therapy are necessary, and why this method simultaneously attracts and provokes resistance.