Psychoanalysis, entering its second century, is a vital yet divided discipline. A confusing array of mutually contradictory theories compete for the loyalty of clinicians and for the attention of all those interested in understanding human experience. In the classic Object Relations in Psychoanalytic Theory, Jay Greenberg and his coauthor Stephen Mitchell brought clarity to the confusion surrounding psychoanalytic disputes. They defined two competing models: the drive model, which addresses the private dimensions of experience; and the relational model, which reveals the relentlessly social aspect of our lives. Oedipus and Beyond builds on Greenberg's earlier contribution. Beginning with a brilliant critique of the conceptual framework of psychoanalysis, he provides fresh insight into Freud's theory, demonstrating how attempts to resolve some of its shortcomings have generated their own theoretical and clinical dilemmas.

Freud on a Precipice is an exploration of eight likely early-life traumas experienced by Sigmund Freud and an effort to show how their unconscious processing adversely affected the psychoanalytic theory he forged beginning in the late 1890's. Using a new method to decode key narratives in Freud's opus, Langs makes a compelling argument for the probability that Freud was never sure of the identity of his biological father. The book also offers a fresh study of paradigms, paradigm shifts, and archetypes.