On the Dark Side of Chronic Depression: Psychoanalytic, Social-Cultural and Research Approaches

This book brings together cutting-edge expertise from psychoanalysis, psychiatry, neuroscience and social science to shed light on the dark side of chronic depression.

Considering different forms of depression on a continuum, the book develops new diagnostical considerations on depression. It includes detailed case studies from clinical psychoanalytical practice, conceptual considerations and historical analyses to current empirical and neurobiological studies on depression. The book is unique in bridging a gap between Anglo-Saxon/German psychoanalysis and French traditions in relation to clinical treatment techniques and conceptualizations of depression and trauma. Chapters present new research on the social, biographical, genetic and neurobiological determinants of severe depressive disorder and explore how these can be differentiated and expanded in the face of new cultural realities as well of new findings particularly in modern neurosciences.

The book explores new understanding and discussion of treatment options for depression and will be essential reading for researchers and students in the field of depression and mental health research. It will also enrich the conceptual and clinical knowledge of psychoanalysts and psychotherapy researchers and students.

Marianne Leuzinger-Bohleber is Professor Emeritus for psychoanalysis at the University of Kassel, past director in charge of the Sigmund-Freud-Institut in Frankfurt and now researcher at the Universitymedicine in Mainz, Germany.

Gilles Ambresin is Research Lead in the research program on chronic depression at the University Institute of Psychotherapy, Lausanne University Hospital, Switzerland.

Tamara Fischmann is Professor of clinical psychology and psychoanalysis at the International Psychoanalytic University (IPU) Berlin, Germany and researcher at the Sigmund-Freud-Institut (SFI) Frankfurt a.M.

Mark Solms is Chair of Neuropsychology at the University of Cape Town and Groote Schuur Hospital, South Africa.