Hadar's ambitious, captivating account of psychoanalysis and social issues uniquely combines the experiences of the clinician and the social activist. Informed by Lacanian and critical theory, Hadar defines the psychoanalytic project not in terms of the treatment of illness but as an ethical practice of recognizing injury, whether to the individual or the collective. The book will challenge both clinicians and academics to grapple with how each can engage the urgent question of how subjectivity can emerge from entrapment in victimization and injury and assume ethical responsibility, both in individual therapy and in social activism. - Jessica Benjamin, psychoanalyst, author of The Bonds of Love and Shadow of the Other
Psychoanalysis and Social Involvement offers a manifesto for community mental health, weaving as it does, between the freeing of the individual and the freeing of community. It discusses the related issues on many levels, from the most abstract to the most practical and achieves both a unity of perspective and a diversity of interests. At times it creates powerful insights, while at others it engages gripping life stories. Uri Hadar's sense of justice is refreshing and his book should be read by all those who care for the mental health of individuals and society, especially in Israel and Palestine. - Eyad Sarraj, Founder and President of the Gaza Community Mental Health Program.
No one writes more lucidly than Uri Hadar when encompassing the challenges and complexity of analytic psychotherapy. Drawing his insights from both Lacan and relational psychoanalysis, Hadar goes to the heart of the matter in raising social, ethical and political considerations when pondering the ties between the practice of psychotherapy and the nature of mental health. Written from within the Israeli-Palestinian context, this book is an invaluable resource for one of the most critical conversations of our time how to lead an ethical and healthy life in situations of continuous conflict. Few other books have quite the same potential for addressing the role of psychoanalytic thought and practice in troubled times. - Lynne Segal, author of Out of Time: The Pleasures & Perils of Ageing