Unknowable, Unspeakable, and Unsprung ─ Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Truth, Scandal, Secrets and Lies

Unknowable, Unspeakable and Unsprung delves into the mysteries of scandalous behavior- behavior that can seem shocking, unfathomable, or self-destructive-that is outrageous and offensive on the one hand, yet fascinating and exciting on the other. In the process, this anthology asks fundamental questions about the self: what the self is allowed to be and do, what must be disallowed, and what remains unknown.

Clinicians strive to know their patients’ selves, and their own, as fully as possible, while also facing the inevitable riddles these selves present. Covering topics ranging from trauma, politics, the analyst’s subjectivity, and eating disorders and the body, to self-revelation, secrets, evil, and boundary issues, a distinguished group of authors bring the theory, practice, and application of contemporary psychoanalysis to life. In doing so, they use psychoanalytic perspectives not only to illuminate struggles that afflict patients seeking treatment, but to shed light, more broadly, on contemporary human dilemmas.

This collection offers not a unified voice, but rather the sound of many, each in their own way trying to articulate the indescribable, the unwanted, and the off limits. It is a book that raises more questions than can be answered, complicates as much as clarifies, and contains the essential paradox of trying to talk about aspects of clinical and human experience that can never be fully seen or known. Unknowable, Unspeakable and Unsprung offers invaluable reading to interested mental health professionals as well as to anyone intrigued by the secrets of the self.

Jean Petrucelli is director/co-founder of the Eating Disorders, Compulsions & Addictions Service, faculty and supervising analyst at the William Alanson White Institute, adjunct clinical professor at the NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis, and editor of several books.

Sarah Schoen is faculty and supervising analyst at the William Alanson White Institute and adjunct clinical professor at the NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis.