Psychoanalysis: The Major Concepts

From our regular book review column.

Psychoanalysis: The Major Concepts is the culmination of the efforts of the editors in a lineage dating to 1967 with the publication of A Glossary of Psychoanalytic Terms and Concepts, a small but useful manual published in 2nd edition form in 1968 as a public information effort of the American Psychoanalytic Association and its Committees on Public Information and Indexing. The intent was to clarify for the public in plain language what was meant by psychoanalytic terms and concepts. That small book had 102 pages, and 74 contributors addressed 164 indexed terms. Embedded in the definitions were 149 other terms, separately indexed.