The psychoanalysis and death of George Gershwin: an American tragedy.

The story of the noted composer George Gershwin's psychoanalysis and death resulting from an undiagnosed brain tumor 70 years ago are known today only in a garbled, incomplete form through biography and legend rather than history among psychoanalysts, neurologists, and neurosurgeons. This article examines his psychoanalysis with Gregory Zilboorg and the events and course of his final illness to the extent possible with the historical material now available. It provides an account of the behavior of his psychoanalyst in a variety of contexts as well as the actions of the other physicians attending him.

Introduction: commentaries and author's response to "The rise and fall of the autochthonous self: from Italian Renaissance Art and Shakespeare to Hediegger, Lacan, and Intersubjectivism" by Richard D. Chessick.

This article addresses the unresolved question of the existence of a private core autochthonous self, as it has been described by Winnicott, Modell, and others. The postmodern version of the self has eliminated this concept entirely, relegating the self to a changing and unstable display, or regarding it as totally chaotic, or even an illusion. The question is raised whether by returning to the origins of this notion of a private self and then tracing its apparent dissolution it might be possible to discover some evidence that it still exists.

Complexity and postmodernism in contemporary theory of psychoanalytic change.

The contemporary literature on change in psychoanalysis has struggled to integrate recent developments in theory. Reasons for its limitations are discussed. The present article brings to bear relevant concepts drawn from postmodernism and complexity theory on ideas about how change occurs in psychoanalysis.

Postmodernism and its impact on psychoanalysis.

This article explores the heterogeneity of postmodern thought and its contributions to contemporary psychoanalytic theory and practice; the heterogeneity of psychoanalytic theory and the claims of privilege and standing made by individual theories; and the postmodern terrain and its conflicting points of view. Its origins are also traced back to the work of classical analytic authors, notably Erikson, Gill, Hartmann, Klein, and Rapaport. A solution to the problem of theoretical plurality is suggested, addressing its ontological and epistemological roots.

A contemporary integration of modern and postmodern trends in psychoanalysis.

Postmodernism has appeared on the psychoanalytic horizon and with it brought change and some confusion. Although many link or even conflate it with relational and intersubjectivity theory, those views are as subject to a postmodernist critique as other analytic orientations. Postmodernism can also be seen as usefully informing the concepts of psychoanalytic narrative and psychoanalytic space.

Analysis and psychotherapy by telephone: twenty years of clinical experience.

Psychoanalysis via telephone is becoming increasingly prevalent while remaining an area of comparatively little study. The author's early telephone treatment of a series of patients living some distance away or engaged in business travel, and his subsequent telephone treatment of nine analytic and five psychotherapy patients following his own geographic move, are discussed in detail. The mechanics of beginning and carrying out such treatment are examined.