The Analyst's Desire
Mitchell Wilson's book, The Analyst's Desire: The Ethical Foundation of Clinical Practice, was published by Bloomsbury Academic Press in 2020. Widely praised for his writerly voice and clear style, Wilson explores the most personal aspects of psychoanalysis: the unavoidable and fundamental desire that motivates a person to work as an analyst and to engage with a patient who is invested in it. As Wilson states: "In light of the centrality of human desire in Freud's model of the mind, and the demonstrable ways in which desire––both patient's and analyst's––impacts every aspect of clinical work, it is surprising that much recent writing on psychoanalysis leaves desire at the doorstep of the consulting room." Through the blending of psychoanalytic theory and detailed clinical examples, Wilson discusses how essential aspects of the analytic process, such as countertransference and clinical impasses, cannot be fully understood without considering the analyst's desire for particular experiences with their patients. The analyst wants something they are not getting at that difficult moment. What is it?
The Analyst's Desire thoughtfully explores this fundamental question with all its complexity and variety— including revealing insights into Wilson's personal history, his sharp engagement with the theories of Lacan, Melanie Klein, the neo-Kleinian tradition, Bion, Winnicott, and investigations into the institutional history of the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis. It also addresses basic ethical issues regarding the analyst's activity, and considers the futural nature of the proleptic unconscious. The book concludes, appropriately and poignantly, with a chapter on endings in psychoanalysis. Throughout this extraordinary work, the reader is encouraged to stay awhile and engage with Mitchell Wilson's voice in the spirit and sensibility of the innkeeper to whom Wilson compares the psychoanalyst. He writes, "The psychoanalyst is a gracious host, a listening care-taker. 'Where are you from?' 'How was your journey?'" This approach invites the visitor to speak and explore, to live in the present and future of such an engagement; the reader is invited to do the same.
Recent Presentations & Interviews
Dr. Mitchell Willson on materiality, embodiment and proximity in teleanalysis, PINC Technology & The Mind Podcast, March 7, 2023. Listen here.
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Analytic Desire, Listening and Letting Go with Mitchell Wilson, MD, International Psychoanalytical Association - On and Off the Couch Podcast, November 13, 2022. Listen here.
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Property and Psychoanalysis, Austen Riggs Grand Rounds, March 4, 2022
https://education.austenriggs.org/FNGL-MitchellWilson#group-tabs-node-course-default4
The Analyst's Desire: The Ethical Foundation of Clinical Practice, March 6, 2022
New Books in Psychoanalysis, May 13, 2021
Praise for The Analyst's Desire
"Someone had to write this book. What becomes quickly obvious is that only Mitchell Wilson could have done so, and for the very reasons he lays out in this treasure of a volume. Wilson, a training and supervising analyst at the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis, and the Editor-in-Chief of JAPA, has assembled a truly resplendent tome, replete with intense theoretical deliberations borne from decades’ worth of reading and study, combined with personal vignettes and cultural considerations that speak directly to the clinical encounter. "
–Fort!Da!
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"From its first chapter, “The Voice Endures,” until its end, the voice—Wilson’s voice—indeed does endure. In our contemporary literature, I can think of only one other author, Thomas Ogden, whose voice and argument are so intertwined as to be indistinguishable from each other. To resist the argument, you must resist the voice. And Wilson’s voice, like Ogden’s, is extremely gracious and hospitable. You welcome being welcomed like this. "
–DIVISION/Review
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"Mitchell Wilson is a writer, which is not so for all psychoanalysts who write. His care for the grace and rhythm of the voice, for the music of the prose, expresses a desire not only to convey his argument but to evoke desire in the reader. The desire to affect the desire of the reader arises implicitly—structurally—whenever one puts pen to paper. Even the most dry and scientific writing presumes a desire to know in the reader. Wilson’s writing is not dry and scientific. It is lively writing. The reader is aroused by the play of language not only by the presentation of ideas, not only by the desire to know but the desire to know the other, the author. The presence of the authorial voice and care for its effects on the other are essential elements of this important and evocative book as is the awareness and responsibility inherent in arousing the desire of the other."
–Psychoanalytic Psychology
"In spite of how much I have already said about the depth and value of this highly original and pertinent book, I am pained by how much I am leaving out. For me, this book is a must-read for candidates in analytic training and a welcome read for practicing analysts. I also think it will stimulate academics who trade in psychoanalytic theory. It situates us in the present theoretical moment, expands our understanding of the ethical foundation of analytic work, and opens new vistas onto analytic practice and technique."
–The Psychoanalytic Quarterly
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