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This discussion of a case report focuses on the ubiquity of polarized thinking in formulating therapeutic concepts. Binary thinking afflicts the two sides of the essentialist-social constructivist debate. Both views avoid the fact that we can never really know where biology stops and culture begins. The classical view of transference is another type of binary thinking that diminishes the ambiguity that arises if one considers both the analyst and patient's contributions. It is argued, instead, that transference is not something projected onto a blank screen, but rather something that occurs between a therapist and patient based on subjective factors unique to each of them.

This paper contrasts my experience of coming out as a white, Jewish, highly educated, urban, middle class 'lesbian' in the 20th century with the experience of two 'lesbian' patients coming out today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to demonstrate the inextricability of the sociopolitical from the clinical practice of working with patients, by presenting a brief vignette of a session that took place immediately after I listened to a news broadcast. Because I view psychoanalytic theory and practice as inseparable from sociopolitical reality, I propose that psychoanalysis is an approach to living that is grounded in culture and values. I argue that by espousing a view of psychoanalysis as truth, we inadvertently contribute to naturalizing neoliberalism. I also attempt to broaden our view of neoliberal subjectivities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This introduction to a special section 'On Being Lesbian in the Contemporary U.S.' consists of four papers which consider different aspects of lesbian experience from a socio-historical perspective, and one which explores attitudes towards lesbians by white evangelical Protestants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper consists of a discussion of Neil Altman's ‘Psychoanalysis and war’, which was conducted online through PsyBC in the fall of 2006. Discussants were a group of psychoanalytically oriented thinkers chosen by the author and Nancy Hollander, the author of the other paper included in the discussion. The paper represents the full discussion with only minor edits to correct typographical errors and improve clarity. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the author's comments on author Stephen Mitchell's research papers on homophobia in psychoanalysis. The two papers of Mitchell are a triumph. It was tremendously courageous of him to write about the horrendous treatment of gay men and lesbians, and by doing so he helped open a space where other lesbians and gay men are able to live satisfying lives. He also helped pave the way for gay and lesbian psychoanalysts to speak in their own voices to criticize the homophobia of the psychoanalytic establishment. Mitchell's change from an objectivist perspective to a postmodern/ constructivist/relational view fundamentally altered how he conceptualized the psychoanalytic process. As he moved from seeing the analyst as a blank screen to realizing the inevitability of the analyst's subjectivity as an integral part of the mix, he became able to identify unconscious homophobia in himself. In the last paragraph of the 1978 paper, Mitchell came closer to recognizing that the analyst's values influence the analytic encounter. It was as if he opened the door to his future postmodern-influenced self but could only glimpse the ramifications of these ideas. Here Mitchell remarked that heterosexuality is not a natural efflorescence but is itself influenced by and possibly originates in other motivational systems.