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The Infinite Question
In his latest book Christopher Bollas uses detailed studies of real clinical practice to illuminate a theory of psychoanalysis which privileges the human impulse to question. From earliest childhood to the end of our lives, we are driven by this impulse in its varying forms, and The Infinite Question illustrates how Freud's free associative method provides both patient and analyst with answers and, in turn, with an ongoing interplay of further questions.
At the book's core are transcripts of real analytical sessions, accompanied by parallel commentaries which highlight key aspects of the free associative method in practice. These transcripts are contextualised by further discussion of the cases themselves, as well as a wider theoretical framework which places its emphasis on Freud's theory of the logic of by learning to listen to this free associative logic, Bollas argues, we can discover a richer and more complex unconscious voice than if we rely solely on Freud's theory of repressed ideas.
Bollas demonstrates, in an eloquent and persuasive manner, how the Freudian position of evenly suspended attentiveness enables the analyst's unconscious to catch the drift of the patient's own unconscious. He also shows that to stimulate further questioning is often of more benefit to the analytical process than to jump to an interpretation. Yet whatever fascinating course a session may take, neither the patient nor the analyst can halt the progress of the self-propelling interrogative drive.
The Infinite Question will be invaluable to both the new student and the experienced psychoanalyst, read either on its own or as a practice-based extension of the theoretical ideas elaborated in its companion volume, The Evocative Object World (also published by Routledge).
At the book's core are transcripts of real analytical sessions, accompanied by parallel commentaries which highlight key aspects of the free associative method in practice. These transcripts are contextualised by further discussion of the cases themselves, as well as a wider theoretical framework which places its emphasis on Freud's theory of the logic of by learning to listen to this free associative logic, Bollas argues, we can discover a richer and more complex unconscious voice than if we rely solely on Freud's theory of repressed ideas.
Bollas demonstrates, in an eloquent and persuasive manner, how the Freudian position of evenly suspended attentiveness enables the analyst's unconscious to catch the drift of the patient's own unconscious. He also shows that to stimulate further questioning is often of more benefit to the analytical process than to jump to an interpretation. Yet whatever fascinating course a session may take, neither the patient nor the analyst can halt the progress of the self-propelling interrogative drive.
The Infinite Question will be invaluable to both the new student and the experienced psychoanalyst, read either on its own or as a practice-based extension of the theoretical ideas elaborated in its companion volume, The Evocative Object World (also published by Routledge).
- GenresPsychologyPsychoanalysis
151 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 26, 2008
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93 people want to read
About the author
Christopher Bollas
43 books90 followersChristopher Bollas, Ph.D. is a Member of the International Psychoanalytical Association and has been practicing for over fifty years. Former Director of Education at the Austen Riggs Center he was Visiting Professor of Psychoanalysis at the Institute of Child Neuropsychiatry of the University of Rome. He is a prolific author and international lecturer.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 8, 2012
Amazing, brilliant and innovative psychoanalytic views, massive writer! Left me with a lot of thinking !!!
April 4, 2025
Kitabın odağı Freud’un “serbest çağrışım” kavramı. Ancak mesleki olarak psikoloji/psikiyatri alanında yer almayan kişilerin de psikanalize dair temel okumaları yapmış olmaları halinde okuyabileceği ve okurken kitabın adından da anlaşılacağı üzere kendilerine daha önce hiç bakmadıkları pencerelerden sorular yöneltebilecekleri bir kitap. Kişinin kendini bilme ve hakikatinden kaçınma arasında nasıl salındığını hem teori hem vaka örnekleri üzerinden anlatıyor. Dili de psikanaliz literatüründeki diğer birçok kitaba kıyasla oldukça anlaşılır, ancak yine de yansıtma, yansıtmalı özdeşim, aktarım ve karşı aktarım gibi kavramlara hakimiyet gerektiriyor.
January 4, 2020
Es un buen libro, pero no para principiantes. Requiere seguir las líneas de pensamiento en las asociaciones de los casos presentados y también de los terapeutas que exponen. O dar la contra y pensar distinto. De todas maneras lo recomiendo.
June 28, 2025
“Sonsuz soru “ serbest çağrışıma, Freud’un yönteminin en temel keşiflerinden birine övgü niteliğinde bir kitaptı bence. Bir rüya, anımsama, unutma, anı parçası.. kendi başlarına kapalı olan bu bütünlükler analizin-analist çiftinin serbest çağrışımlarıyla puzzle niteliğindeki bütünlüklerini kaybedip sorulara, cevaplandıkça daha fazlasını sorduran açık uçlu sorulara ve zihnin genişlemesine yol açıyorlar.
Başlangıçta üzerine çok az şey konuşulabilen, sıradan gibi görünen şeyler, kendileri hakkında konuşmaya başlayınca dönüşüyorlar ve bu dönüşüm soru formunu alıyor; yanıtlanmak için değil ama merak objesi olarak sorular.
Düşünülmemiş ve henüz bilinemez olanın soruya dönüşerek kendini bilinire açması ve dönüşmeye başlaması serbest çağrışımın bir yöntem olarak yaratıcılığına övgü gibi ele alınmış Bollas’ın kitabında.
English
“The infinite Question” was, in my opinion, a book that praised free association—one of the fundamental discoveries of Freud’s method. A dream, a recollection, forgetting, a fragment of memory… These wholes that are closed in on themselves begin to lose their completeness like pieces of a puzzle through the free associations of the analysis–analyst pair, and they pave the way for questions, for more open-ended questions that provoke further thought, and for the expansion of the mind.
Things that initially seem ordinary and about which little can be said begin to transform once they are spoken about, and this transformation takes the form of a question; not to be answered, but to be an object of curiosity.
The transformation of what is unthought and still unknown into a question, its opening itself up to being known, and its beginning to transform—this has been handled in Bollas’s book as a kind of praise for the creativity of free association as a method.
It’s different from kind of knowledge that consists of arrogance and violence. In Bollas’ book , questioning and answering contribute to furthering of curiosity, not final decisions, determinism etc
Başlangıçta üzerine çok az şey konuşulabilen, sıradan gibi görünen şeyler, kendileri hakkında konuşmaya başlayınca dönüşüyorlar ve bu dönüşüm soru formunu alıyor; yanıtlanmak için değil ama merak objesi olarak sorular.
Düşünülmemiş ve henüz bilinemez olanın soruya dönüşerek kendini bilinire açması ve dönüşmeye başlaması serbest çağrışımın bir yöntem olarak yaratıcılığına övgü gibi ele alınmış Bollas’ın kitabında.
English
“The infinite Question” was, in my opinion, a book that praised free association—one of the fundamental discoveries of Freud’s method. A dream, a recollection, forgetting, a fragment of memory… These wholes that are closed in on themselves begin to lose their completeness like pieces of a puzzle through the free associations of the analysis–analyst pair, and they pave the way for questions, for more open-ended questions that provoke further thought, and for the expansion of the mind.
Things that initially seem ordinary and about which little can be said begin to transform once they are spoken about, and this transformation takes the form of a question; not to be answered, but to be an object of curiosity.
The transformation of what is unthought and still unknown into a question, its opening itself up to being known, and its beginning to transform—this has been handled in Bollas’s book as a kind of praise for the creativity of free association as a method.
It’s different from kind of knowledge that consists of arrogance and violence. In Bollas’ book , questioning and answering contribute to furthering of curiosity, not final decisions, determinism etc
September 6, 2024
etkileyici ve teoriyi pratikle çok başarılı şekilde buluşturmuş bir kitap. ama kesinlikle sağlam bir temel olmadan anlaşılması zor, benim bitirmem (ara verdiğim dönemleri saymazsak) iki aya yakın sürmüştür. yine de bence psikanalizle ilgili birisinin sırf aralardan kendi çıkarımlarını yapabilmesi ve bilinçdışı açısından seansların akışını okuması için bir şans vermesi gereken bir eser. okurunu kurama ve terimlere boğmaktansa analist ve analizan arasında gerçekleşen oyunu, sihiri, bilinçdışı çalışmasını gözlemlememize izin veriyor
June 28, 2022
كتاب صغير الحجم لكنه نافذ المعني
اهم خط في الكتاب هو نقد اتجاه التحليل النفسي التقليدي الي ركز علي كبت الأفكار والأحاسيس الصعبة في اللاوعي
وتحويل العلاج النفسي لعملية تحرير للأفكار المكبوتة
كريستوفر بولاس شايف ان اللاوعي هو عملية اكبر بكتير من المكبوت وركز علي العمليات اللاواعية وتسلسلها وطريقة ترتيب الأفكار واستدعاء الواحدة للتانية كأنها سلاسل
وارتباط ده كله باللغة
ربط لأفكار لاكان وفرويد ووينيكوت
وربط الأفكار دي بالطرق العلاجية وازاي المعالج يسمع للغة اللاوعي ويستخدمه وهو في الحالة دي بيكون كاشف للطبوغرافيا النفسية الداخيلة للشخص
عمل فكري متميز وشجعني اني اقرا باقي كتب بولاس
اهم خط في الكتاب هو نقد اتجاه التحليل النفسي التقليدي الي ركز علي كبت الأفكار والأحاسيس الصعبة في اللاوعي
وتحويل العلاج النفسي لعملية تحرير للأفكار المكبوتة
كريستوفر بولاس شايف ان اللاوعي هو عملية اكبر بكتير من المكبوت وركز علي العمليات اللاواعية وتسلسلها وطريقة ترتيب الأفكار واستدعاء الواحدة للتانية كأنها سلاسل
وارتباط ده كله باللغة
ربط لأفكار لاكان وفرويد ووينيكوت
وربط الأفكار دي بالطرق العلاجية وازاي المعالج يسمع للغة اللاوعي ويستخدمه وهو في الحالة دي بيكون كاشف للطبوغرافيا النفسية الداخيلة للشخص
عمل فكري متميز وشجعني اني اقرا باقي كتب بولاس
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews