The Making of Psychotherapists: An Anthropological Analysis

Here, for the first time, is a book that submits the psychoanalytic community and training institute to deep anthropological enquiry. It expertly uncovers the manifold and often hidden institutional devices used to transform trainees into professionals. By analysing the origins of the splits and ructions within the profession, and by attending closely to what trainees feel, do and think as they struggle towards professional status, Davies exposes the often subtle but deeply penetrating effects psychoanalytic training has upon all who pass through it, and the way these effects come to structure and direct the community itself. The data illuminating this ethnography is culled from case-studies of clinical work, interviews with teachers, senior practitioners and trainees, as well as from his participant observation. This book is written to be accessible to all those who have an interest in the therapeutic profession – from the psychotherapist, social anthropologist, to the general reader alike.