Private Self [Paperback]

InThe Private Self, Arnold Modell contributes an interdisciplinary perspective in formulating a theory of the private self. A leading thinker in American psychoanalysis, Modell here studies selfhood by examining variations on the theme of the self in Freud and in the work of object relations theorists, self psychologists, and neuroscientists. Modell contends that the self is fundamentally paradoxical, in that it is at once dependent upon social affirmation and autonomous in generating itself from within. We create ourselves, he suggests, by selecting values that are endowed with private meanings.

By thinking of the unconscious as a neurophysiological process, and the self as the subject and object of its own experience, Modell is able to explain how identity can persist in the flux of consciousness. He thus offers an exciting and original perspective for our understanding of the mind and the brain.

A richly challenging book...A prodigious review and criticism of much of psychoanalytic theory in addition to an exposition of new ideas in the psychology of the self. I enthusiastically recommend it to all those who are seriously interested in psychoanalytic theory.There is a great deal of material here and the 'self' is examined from many different perspectives, primarily psychoanalytical...This is an important book.Modell's book refocuses attention on the importance of the private self as the source of our deepest motivations and basic values...This is an impressively rich theoretical contribution with concepts drawn from psychoanalysis, philosophy, literature, biography, infant psychiatry, and neuroscience. Modell's clarity of thought and generosity of spirit are admirable, and he is neither formulaic nor contentious. It is a carefully reasoned, restrained, and respectful approach to unresolved theoretical issues.InThe Private Self, Arnold Modell contributes an interdisciplinary perspective in formulating a theory of the private self. A leadil³"