Analysts in the Trenches: Streets, Schools, War Zones » (New Edition)

Bruce Sklarew, M.D., is Principal Investigator, School-Based Mourning Project, Wendt Center for Loss and Healing, Washington, DC.

Stuart W. Twemlow, M.D., is Director, Peaceful Schools and Communities Research Program, Menninger Clinic, and Professor of Psychiatry, Baylor School of Medicine, Houston, TX.

Sallye M. Wilkinson, Ph.D., teaches as the Greater Kansas City Psychoanalytic Institute.

The horrific events of 9/11 and its sequelae have reinforced what thoughtful analysts have long known: that they have a responsibilty to respond to the complex social and emotional issues arising in their communities - to function, that is, as "community psychoanalysts." Analysts in the Trenches vividly illustrates what socially engaged analysts can offer to violent and disturbed communities. Contributors bring analytic expertise to bear on the emotional sequelae to violence, including sexual and physical abuse; to multiple and traumatic losses; and to learning inhibitions. Thay also explore and devise community responses to the scapegoating of classes and groups, to homelessness, and to variations in family structures. This volume provides heartening testimony to the relevance of psychodynamic thinking in the post-9/11 world and will spur professional readers to develop their own programs of community involvement.

Marvin Margolis

"What I find most appealing is that the contributors to Analysts in the Trenches offered help and a willingness to be part of a professional team rather than claiming to have the answers to complex social problems. The long tradition of analysts working in the community comes to fruition in this exemplary volume, which could well be adopted as the text for courses in community psychoanalysis at every psychoanalytic institute. Editors Bruce Sklarew, Stuart Twemlow, and Sallye Wilkinson deserve our highest praise for this ground-breaking publishing event.