Books
Who’s to Blame? Collective Guilt on Trial
Publisher Routledge
ISBN: 9781032460789
Price: £17.74
Who’s to Blame? Collective Guilt on Trial presents a psychoanalytic exploration of blame and collective guilt in the aftermath of large-scale atrocities that cause widespread trauma and victimization.
Coline Covington explores various aspects of social and collective guilt and considers how both perpetrators and victims make sense of their experiences, with particular reference to group behavior and political morality. Covington challenges the concept of collective guilt associated with the aftermath of large-scale atrocities such as the Holocaust and examines the moral pressure placed on perpetrators to exhibit guilt as part of a realignment of political power and a process of restoring social morality. Who’s to Blame? Collective Guilt on Trial concludes with a chapter-length case study examining Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Combining psychoanalytic ideas with political, philosophical and social theory, Who’s to Blame? Collective Guilt on Trial will be of great value to readers interested in questions of collective guilt, blame and the possibilities of atonement. It will also appeal to psychoanalysts in practice and in training, and to academics of psychoanalytic studies, political philosophy, sociology and conflict resolution.
For Goodness Sake: Bravery, Patriotism and Identity
Coline Covington
Publisher Phoenix Publishing House, 2020 - 260 Pages
ISBN: 9781912691357
Price: £26.99
An in-depth examination of the concept of bravery, patriotism and identity through the question, “What does it mean to be true to oneself”
Filled with fascinating real-life stories and fictional accounts that shine a light on what it takes to be a “hero" and how important our political beliefs are to our identity.
Written by renowned academic, Coline Covington, former consultant to criminal justice agencies and former Chair of the British Psychoanalytic Council.
In the midst of atrocities, there is the silent presence of the brave individuals who act and stand apart from the crowd, who risk their own lives by rescuing others or by voicing their dissent. The actions of these exceptional individuals raise questions as to why they were able to do what they did and why other people don’t. But if we look closer at their histories, we discover that they may not be as exceptional as we think.
Bravery takes different forms in different contexts. Such as the young male patient, a war hero, struggling to separate from his refugee parents. Or Bailey Thompson, the 17-year-old who rescued concert-goers under sniper fire in Las Vegas in 2017. Or the student protestors in Hong Kong marching to protect their future and beliefs. The compulsion to act bravely is largely ascribed to conscience, that is, being true to one’s beliefs. Those who act bravely do not feel as if they have a choice, because not to act is experienced as a betrayal of self. As such, bravery is a fundamental assertion not only of the self but of a moral order necessary to sustain the self.
The perfect book for these unprecedented times, as we all need to find our own inner resources to face whatever lies ahead.
Everyday Evils: A Psychoanalytic View of Evil and Morality
Coline Covington
Publisher Routledge, 2017 - 200 Pages
ISBN-10: 9781138819207
ISBN-13: 978-1138819207
Price - £31.99
Everyday Evils takes a psychoanalytic look at the evils committed by "ordinary" people in different contexts – from the Nazi concentration camps, to Stockholm Syndrome, to the atrocities publicized by Islamic State– and presents new perspectives on how such evil deeds come about as well as the extreme ways in which we deny the existence of evil.
Concepts of group behaviour, morality, trauma, and forgiveness are reconsidered within a multi-disciplinary framework. The psychodynamics of dissociation, and the capacity to witness evil acts while participating in them, raise questions about the origin of morality, and about the role of the observing ego in maintaining psychic equilibrium. Coline Covington examines how we demonize the "other" and how violent actions become normalized within communities, such as during the Rwandan genocide and Polish pogroms. The recent attraction of the millenarian theocracy of the Islamic State also highlights our fascination with violence and death. Covington emphasizes that evil comes about through a variety of causes and is highly contextual. It is our capacity to acknowledge the evils we live with, witness and commit that is vital to how we manage and respond to violence within ourselves and others and in mitigating our innate destructiveness. In conclusion, the book addresses how individuals and societies come to terms with evil, along with the problematic concept of forgiveness and the restoration of good.
Everyday Evils blends psychoanalytic concepts together with the disciplines of sociology, history, anthropology and philosophy, studies of violence and theology in order to develop a richer, deeper and more comprehensive understanding of evil. Intending to make the unthinkable thinkable, this book will appeal to scholars from across those disciplines, as well as psychoanalysts, psychotherapists and anyone who has ever asked the question: "How could anyone do something like that?"
“The capacity for evil lies within us all.”
The Herald Scotland, 27 November 2016
Sabina Spielrein: Forgotten Pioneer of Psychoanalysis, 2nd Edition
Coline Covington and Barbara Wharton, Eds.
Publisher Routledge, 2015 - 278 Pages
ISBN-10: 041581748X
ISBN-13: 978-0415817486
Price - £19.99
Sabina Spielrein is perhaps best known for her love affair with her doctor, Carl Gustav Jung. Their intense therapeutic relationship led to a mutual fascination that lasted, for Spielrein, for the rest of her life. It is debatable whether Spielrein and Jung’s relationship was consummated, but it did give birth to some of the most important ideas within psychoanalysis and analytical psychology today, the most notable being that of the death instinct. But what happened to Spielrein and why have her story and work remained in the dark for so many years?
This second edition of Sabina Spielrein: Forgotten Pioneer of Psychoanalysis complements the first edition by retaining many of the most important documents about her life and work. Included in this edition are Jung’s hospital records of his treatment of Spielrein, Jung’s letters to Spielrein following her discharge in 1905, extracts from her personal diary, and her ground breaking paper on the development of language, "The origin of the child’s words Papa and Mama." New material includes Spielrein’s famous paper, "Destruction as a cause of coming into being", in which she formulates her theory of the death drive, a paper describing her place and contribution within Freud’s Vienna Circle, commentaries on the mutual erotic transference between Spielrein and Jung, and a theoretical discussion of her seminal ideas on aggression.
This new edition compiles the essential writings of Spielrein along with commentaries by prominent psychoanalytic and Jungian scholars. It is the definitive source book on Spielrein for clinicians, scholars and historians of psychoanalysis.
Shrinking the News: Headline Stories on the Couch
Coline Covington
Publisher Karnac Books, 2014 - 256 Pages
ISBN-10: 0367102471
ISBN-13: 978-0367102470
Price: Price £9.44
Shrinking the News brings together the author's wide range of articles from her regular column in the online newspaper, The Week. The articles cover current events from October 2008 until December 2010, concluding with more recent articles from 2013. These articles form a fascinating psychoanalytic insight on crime, politics, the economy, sports and stardom, and the quirky, bizarre events and trends that make up our daily life. The widespread popularity of these articles is a testimony to the public's interest in a psychoanalytic view of the world around us and why people do the things they do.
Why, for instance, would an American vote for Sarah Palin? Why would a well-educated Bishop deny the holocaust? What impulses lead bankers to be reckless, girls to glory in promiscuity, and what does Julian Assange's fight for justice have to do with his mother?.
Coline Covington is the indispensable guide to what lies behind these major news items – and more. Funny, quirky, and insightful, each short article is a gem!
Sabina Spielrein: Forgotten Pioneer of Psychoanalysis
Coline Covington and Barbara Wharton, Eds.
Publisher Routledge, 2003 - 328 Pages
ISBN-10: 1583919031
ISBN-13: 978-1583919033
Price: Price £40.00
Sabina Spielrein is perhaps best known for her love affair with her doctor, Carl Gustav Jung. She met Jung when she was admitted to Burghölzli Clinic in Zürich in 1904 as a young woman of 19, where Jung diagnosed the highly intelligent woman as hysteric. Their intense relationship gave rise to some of the most important ideas within psychoanalysis and analytical psychology today, notably the death instinct.
Sabina Spielrein: Forgotten Pioneer of Psychoanalysis is an invaluable collection of papers that attempt to answer why Spielrein's story and work have remained in the dark for so long. The distinguished editors draw together Jung's hospital records of his treatment of Spielrein, commentaries on her relationship with Jung, extracts from Spielrein's diary, Jung's letters to Spielrein, and short theoretical pieces from her groundbreaking paper on the development of language "The origin of the child's words Papa and Mama", to shed new light on one of the first women psychoanalysts' life and work.
Illustrated by historical documents that have never before been published in English book form, Sabina Spielrein: Forgotten Pioneer of Psychoanalysis encourages and facilitates further historical research into, and development of the ideas we've inherited from Sabina Spielrein's treatment, writing and relationships. This book will be of great interest to psychoanalysts, analytical psychologists, psychotherapists, historians, students and all those interested in the history of psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic ideas.
Terrorism and War : Unconscious Dynamics of Political Violence
Coline Covington
Co-Editors: Williams, Paul; Arundale, Jean; Knox, Jean
Publisher Karnac Books, 2002 - 435 Pages
ISBN: 9781855759428.
ISBN 10: 185575942X.
Price: £38.35
Following the attacks of September 11th 2001, one of the resounding questions asked was "What would make anyone do such a thing?" The psychological mentality of the suicidal terrorist left a gaping hole in people's understanding. This essential volume represents a much-needed effort to collate and examine some of the material already at our disposal as an encouragement to serious thought on this question and other related questions.'If terrorism is not new, what is it about the recent attacks that gives us a sense that something has changed? Is it the scale of the destruction, or the anxiety that we are facing some altogether new uncertainty? Are we in some sense facing a new enemy? ...In reflecting on these and other related questions we may be facing a similar watershed of understanding to that faced by Freud at the end of the Great War...In the absence of progress in our thinking today, political leaders and public opinion will likely turn to previous political and religious ideas, investing in them with a fundamentalist certainty that spells disaster.
Recent Papers
Populism and the Danger of Illusion
Contemporary Psychoanalysis: April 2018.
A Tragic Inheritance: The Irresolvable Conflict for Children of Perpetrators
British Journal of Psychotherapy: February 2018, Vol 34, Issue 1, pp.114-131.