This latest volume in the Psychoanalysis and Women Series for the Committee on Women and Psychoanalysis of the International Psychoanalytical Association presents and discusses theoretical and clinical work from a number of authors worldwide. It clearly demonstrates that there is no typical development of homosexuality and that each individual's object-choice can only be grasped by examining their psychic history. While the therapeutic work requires no special adaptation of technique, countertransferential difficulties which may arise and stem in part from cultural representations about gender differences are fully explored. The book includes a unique retrospective view by Ralph Roughton over three time points which charts changes in considering the analyst's response within the wider cultural context.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABOUT THE EDITORS AND CONTRIBUTORS SERIES EDITOR'S FOREWORD INTRODUCTION by Elda Abrevaya CHAPTER ONE Gender as heritage of the first qualitative differentiation - Paul DenisCHAPTER TWO Male homosexuality in analytic treatment - Jacques AndreCHAPTER THREE Discussion of "Male homosexuality in analytic treatment", by Jacques Andre - Giovanna AmbrosioCHAPTER FOUR The two analyses of a gay man: the interplay of social change and psychoanalytic understanding - Ralph RoughtonCHAPTER FIVE The same and the other: homosexuality in adolescence - Monique CournutCHAPTER SIX Discussion of "The same and the other: homosexuality n adolescence", by Monique Cournut - Juan-Eduardo TesoneCHAPTER SEVEN The obscure object of desire - Ferhan OzenenCHAPTER EIGHT Inside Sisyphus's nightmare: destructive narcissism and death instinct - Raquel Cavaleiro FerreiraCHAPTER NINE Discussion of "Inside Sisyphus's nightmare: destructive narcissism and death instinct", by Raquel Cavaleiro Ferreira - Martina BurdetCHAPTER TEN Homosexuality and the parental figures - Ester Palerm Mari and Teresa FloresCHAPTER ELEVEN The two faces of the medallion - Ayse KurtulCHAPTER TWELVE Discussion of "The two faces of the medallion", by Ayse Kurtul - Ingrid Moeslein-TeisingCHAPTER THIRTEEN A woman looking for a woman - F. Gover Kazanciog?lu and Elda AbrevayaSUMMARY The clinical chapters: some concluding thoughts - Elda AbrevayaAFTERWORD - Frances Thomson-SaloINDEX