Steeped in Lacanian theory, this book (Nouvelles Études Sur L’Hysterie) is the first of its kind to present a longitudinal approach to the study of hysteria.
In these 21 seminars Dr Melman leads us from the first records of hysteria to Freud’s major discovery of the principal concepts of trauma, incompatibility, repression and the unconscious. Peppered with invaluable clinical examples, the author guides readers through difficult concepts as he links hysteria to the birth of psychoanalysis itself, and demonstrates how the reader may become implicated in this discourse.
Capturing Melman’s indomitable spirit, Studies on Hysteria Revisited will be an important read for graduate students, clinicians, and those in psychoanalytic formation.
Charles Melman is a leading French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist. Friend and collaborator of Lacan, he founded L’Association Lacanienne Internationale in Paris in 1982. He has published extensively and contributed influentially to psychoanalysis worldwide.
The idea for Studies on Hysteria Revisited dates from 1982, when Charles Melman presented a seminar to his students and young analysts, first at the Chaslin Theatre in the Saltpêtrière Hospital (April 1982) and then in the Magnan Theatre in the same hospital (from June 1982).
In this book Charles Melman develops the economy of hysteria, insisting on the distinction between the hysterical position and femininity, on the polymorphism of hysteria, while making a considerable contribution to male hysteria. He explains the difference between hysteria and other neurotic and psychotic pathologies. (from the Preface by Denise Saint Fare Garnot)
Translated into English by Helen Sheehan.
Helen Sheehan studied psychoanalysis in Paris where she obtained her PhD in
2000. She has contributed to psychoanalytic journals in Ireland, England and France. She works as a psychoanalyst in Dublin, and is a member of L’Association Lacanienne Internationale.