Free Association

Advance Praise for Free Association

‘Written by one of our most lucid and erudite psychoanalytic writers, Barnaby Barratt's Free Association is here to remind us what psychoanalysis is really about. This short ― but mighty! ― book walks the reader through the forgotten, if not repressed, art of free-association. Making a powerful case against the degradation of psychoanalysis into a narratological project of self-discovery, Free Association demonstrates how critical it is for our discipline to think and feel with psychic energy. Barratt's book is the introductory class to a mode of psychoanalysis that so many psychoanalysts miss!’

Avgi Saketopoulu,psychoanalyst and author of Sexuality beyond Consent

‘Since his 1984 Psychic Reality and Psychoanalytic Knowing, Dr Barnaby B Barratt has made a significant impact on the field of psychoanalysis. As a rare clinician-theorist, his onto-ethical psychoanalysis, with his revisioning of Freud’s free-association as a ‘radicalized’ practice, positions Barratt ― similar to psychoanalytic mystics such as Michael Eigen ― as a leading-edge elder, ensuring an ever-deepening of the long-forgotten promise of psychoanalysis: the ‘voicing’ of repressed energies. Barratt’s work continues to inspire, broaden, and challenge the field, recovering its onto-ethical seriousness for the next generation.’

Loray Daws, PhD, DPsa,psychoanalyst and author of Michael Eigen.

‘Barratt's essay is an impressive and original examination of a topic essential to the distinctiveness of psychoanalysis. The thoughtful reader will gain much.’

Dr Jonathan Sklar, FRCPsych,Independent Training Analyst, British Psychoanalytic Society.

‘Barnaby B. Barratt’s writings are a psychoanalytic treasure trove. Old ideas, dusted off and reappraised, gain new meaning, transforming seemingly fixed matter into raw energy by the mere act of reading his work. By resurrecting Freud’s now atrophied notions of psychic energy and asserting the primacy of free-association, Barratt articulates and brings alive a sensuous, sensational erotics and ethics of psychoanalysis urgently relevant to today’s human, global, and planetary predicaments and thus to our future.’

Jill Gentile, PhD,psychoanalyst and author of Feminine Law.

‘I wish I had begun reading Barratt’s writings in 1984 when he published his first book on psychoanalysis and its philosophy. I would have lived a different life, but I only discovered him in my late 50s. He revitalized my psychoanalytic thinking and practice, setting me forth on new paths of intellectual and spiritual adventure. I hope this book introduces many readers, especially students, to this titan of Western thought, Eastern spirit, and psychoanalysis.’

Dr Philip Lance,Faculty at the Southern California University of Health Sciences, and with the Psychoanalytic Center of California.

‘Barnaby Barratt is one of the most original and rigorous thinkers in psychoanalysis today. In continuing to advance his legacy, he provides a concise inquiry, critique, and reinterpretation, not only of the free-associative method, but of psychoanalysis itself. Another master course by a brilliant psychoanalyst.’

Professor Jon Mills,psychoanalyst and author of End of the World.