The Clinical Erik Erikson: A Psychoanalytic Method of Engagement and Activation

The twentieth century has been described as the time of man’s discovery of himself; few have contributed more to this cause than Erik Erikson. The Clinical Erik Erikson: A psychoanalytic method of engagement and activation highlights Erikson’s transforming contributions to the field of psychoanalysis and honors his legacy by providing unpublished clinical case illustrations of his psychotherapeutic work. The publication of case material—simple memorable fragments and clinical vignettes— brings the reader into Erikson’s consultation room, providing a portrait of his clinical technique and demonstrating how he actually worked.Stephen Schlein, an authority on Erikson, presents an illuminating account of Erikson’s pioneering work through an exhaustive search of his early monographs on child psychoanalysis, clinical writings, psychotherapeutic case studies, and participation at case conferences at The Austen Riggs Center. Erikson’s writings reveal a psychoanalytic method of extraordinary richness that emphasizes essential ingredients of an interpersonal-relational clinical method and articulates interactional dimensions that have restorative potential. His vision focuses on the interpersonal relationship, its powerful affects, and a belief that human beings have a potent capacity for real change. This book will be essential reading for psychoanalysts and psychoanalytic psychotherapists.

About the Author

Stephen Schlein , a clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst, received his clinical training at The Austen Riggs Center where he first met and studied with Erik Erikson. He was a member of the teaching faculty of the Harvard Medical School, serving as a clinical supervisor. He taught with Erikson at the Erikson Center of Cambridge Hospital and collaborated with him as the editor of Erikson’s selected papers: A Way of Looking At Things . Currently he lectures on Erikson’s writings throughout the United States and abroad. He serves on the teaching faculty at the Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis and as a guest faculty at the Boston Psychoanalytic Institute. He maintains a clinical practice in Lexington, Massachusetts.