From Breakdown to Breakthrough: Psychoanalytic Treatment of Psychosis

From Breakdown to Breakthrough: Psychoanalytic Treatment of Psychosis

A Talk by Danielle Knafo at the Freud Museum 

Dr Danielle Knafo is a clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst, a prolific author, and a popular speaker. We are fortunate to be able to welcome Dr Knafo back to the Freud Museum during her trip to London. She will speak about her latest book, co-authored with Michael Selzer, titled From Breakdown to Breakthrough: Psychoanalytic Treatment of Psychosis, published by Routledge in November 2023.

From Breakdown to Breakthrough: Psychoanalytic Treatment of Psychosis

As a clear and user-friendly guide for clinicians who work with patients affected by psychosis, this book challenges the false notion that psychosis is untreatable through talk therapy. The authors contend that since psychotic symptoms are features of survival adaptation, they naturally serve as a valuable source of information, providing clues about the origins of people’s psychic derailment along with a path to its cure. The authors advise therapists not only to read and respond to the messages embedded in the symptoms, but also to recognize and utilise the non-psychotic aspects of the patient in facilitating recovery. The overall aim is to recruit the patient as a collaborator in their treatment, thus wresting a meaningful and redemptive narrative from the psychotic experience. All aspects and phases of treatment – from initial encounters through the middle phase to termination, and even supervision – are covered in this volume. Abundant with clinical examples, theoretical and technical points, and treatment methods, this book is essential reading for all psychotherapists, psychoanalysts, and other mental health clinicians working with psychosis.

“With clarity and style, the authors thoroughly refute the despairing deficit model of psychosis by offering a brilliant theoretical synthesis and practical approach to understanding and responding to the language of psychosis. All mental health practitioners, especially early career psychotherapists, will be greatly helped in knowing how to treat those deemed unreachable.”
— Francoise Davoine, Ph.D., French psychoanalyst and co-author of History Beyond Trauma

“This book is a passionate, responsive, and highly educated exploration and sharing of psychological work with psychosis, emphasizing intricacies of the therapy relationship, its nuances and possibilities.”
— Michael Eigen, Ph.D., is a psychoanalyst and author of The Psychotic Core

“Knafo and Selzer are master clinicians who work with the skill, determination, patience, and grace required to give patients who are in psychological retreat from consensual reality an opportunity to risk re-entering a world they came to find too difficult to bear.”
— Michael Garrett, MD, psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and author, Psychotherapy for Psychosis

‘This wonderful book, based on extensive knowledge and experience, illustrates effective alternative approaches to the medical model to assist persons who suffer psychosis in achieving a fuller life. It is written in a style that will readily engage the reader and, in doing so, also demonstrate much better ways of engaging with one’s patients.’
— Brian Martindale, MD, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst in the UK, past president of the International Society for the Psychological & Social

Danielle Knafo, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst with expertise in the treatment of psychosis. During her tenure as professor at LIU’s Clinical Psychology Doctoral program for 22 years, she chaired a concentration that trained doctoral students on how to work therapeutically and psychodynamically with serious mental illness. Currently, she is faculty and supervisor at NYU’s Postdoctoral Program in Psychoanalysis. She has written and lectured extensively on the topics of art and creativity, psychoanalysis, trauma and psychosis, sexuality and technology. From Breakdown to Breakthrough: Psychoanalytic Treatment of Psychosis, (written with Michael Selzer) is her tenth book.

TICKETS

Tickets include a welcome drink and book signing.

Freud Museum Members and Patrons receive 20% off the standard ticket price on all events, courses, conferences and On Demand programming.

Tickets are NON-REFUNDABLE

The purpose of this event is to raise funds for the Freud Museum London, which receives no regular public income.