Abstract

Metapsychology for Contemporary Psychoanalysis is a complete revision of the theoretical underpinnings of psychoanalysis and psychodynamic psychotherapy. It is an attempt to replace the traditional drive-defence model of Freudian tradition with an information processing model of the mind. Whereas Freud understood human beings as essentially pleasure seeking beings motivated by the need for drive discharge, this book argues that the central human need is for self-knowledge, and that drives are best understood as means towards this end.