Dissecting The Superego: Moralities Under The Psychoanalytic Microscope

Dissecting the Superego Dissecting the Superego: Moralities Under the Psychoanalytic Microscope offers a comprehensive overview of how the superego, the workings of our moral faculties, may be understood and clinically utilised in contemporary practice. Drawing on the latest psychoanalytic thinking – as well as neurobiological, psychological and ethical perspectives – this book reinstates the superego as a central concept, and gives a clear guide to its importance in the modern world. In addition to the theoretical background of this construct, the contributors provide a clear guide to the importance of the superego in a range of pathological and everyday scenarios, and particularly in clinical settings. With an emphasis on the wider social and cultural context, Dissecting the Superego will be of interest to trainee and qualified psychotherapists, social workers, youth offender and probation workers and ethicists. Celia Harding has worked as a Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist in private practice in East London for over thirty years and is a Founder member of the Association for Psychotherapy in East London. Dissecting the Superego Moralities Under the Psychoanalytic Microscope Edited by Celia Harding First published 2019 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2019 Celia Harding The right of Celia Harding to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN: 978-0-8153-4839-9 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-8153-6107-7 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-351-11710-4 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Apex CoVantage, LLC Contents List of figuresvii List of contributorsviii Prefacexi Acknowledgementsxiii Epigraphsxv Introduction: the superego in 21st-century psychoanalysis 1 CELIA HARDING PART I Theoretical and developmental considerations19   1 The good, the bad and the superego: from punishment to reparation