Play, illusion, Reality, and Trauma - by Albert Brok (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

This work presents some thoughts on Play, Illusion, Reality, and Trauma in relation to the process between patient and analyst. A creative part of our journey in this discussion includes a look at the long career of Charlie Chaplin, in terms of his relationship with his audience as a metaphor for the analyst as audience to his patient and vice versa. Patient and analyst, audience and artist, are mutually and hopefully salubriously intertwined as "involved witnesses" with each other's communication, be they verbal or non-verbal. The level at which these communications are reacted to, the attributions made about them, the connectiveness created, and the therapeutic value derived in the case of analysis, depends on many idiosyncratic factors, both external and internal to the participants involved. I will provide some examples of these factors, both clinical and artistic. In the process, I will define and elaborate the clinical relevancy of play and the concept of a "Playing Alliance" vs "Working Alliance," as well as the irrelevancy of play at certain moments therapeutically. I will also discuss the idea of an aesthetic therapeutic contract and the differentiation of enactments from what I have come to term "actments," (Brok 2014, 2016), as well as the paradox of reality, illusion and the effects of trauma in human experience.

Review Quotes

This book, is a discussion at a deep level by a sophisticated and deep psychoanalyst. Dr. Brok describes the psycho dynamics of Chaplin's personality, of his art, of his developmental course, and of his adult life. It is a fascinating story interweaving his movies, life historical facts, psychodynamics, with added clinical vignettes of relevance to practice . This is a must read for all who appreciate Chaplin and Psychoanalysts interested in art and film.

Eric R. Marcus, MD Professor of Clinical PsychiatrySupervising & Training Analyst Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research

This remarkable book, is a fascinating, scholarly, and fun text that transcends disciplinary boundaries. Dr Brok has managed to compose an erudite, creative work in the finest traditions of applied clinical psychoanalysis. He is clearly well-versed in psychoanalytical theories, as well as a master of filmic studies - and yet again the book is also an elegant psycho-biography of Charlie Chaplin and the evolution of his art across time. Further still, Dr Brok charts a most novel course as he artfully analogises film and art with the psychoanalytical process itself; and the staging of the psychoanalytical situation extant between psychoanalyst and analysand. As such, Dr Brok's book will be an important addition to the libraries of film theorists, clinical and applied psychoanalysts, as well as students of the life and historical times of Charlie Chaplin. David L Downing, PsyD, ABPP, FAPA, Psychoanalyst, Private Practice, & Los Angeles Institute and Society for Psychoanalytic Studies

Postulating that we live in the parallel worlds of reality and imagination, and that accepting this paradoxical situation is crucial to our psychological development, Dr Brok focuses on Charlie Chaplin's later corpus of filmic work to show how artists and their audiences, not unlike patients and their analysts, engage as involved witnesses in an aesthetic therapeutic contract, of which the playing alliance is a central component. Generously illustrated throughout from Chaplin's life and movies, as well as from lively clinical vignettes, this book is a fascinating journey that will inspire all readers who feel passionate about psychoanalysis, cinema and their complex relationship.
Andrea Sabbadini, Fellow of the British Psychoanalytical Society Founder of the European Psychoanalytic Film Festival, Author of Moving Images (Routledge 2014) and Boundaries and Bridges (Karnac 2014)

This remarkable book by Albert Brok offers many new clinical concepts: all creatively presented within the shifting context of Chaplin's relationship with his audience A highly original work, illustrated by vignettes both clinical and cinematic. I recommend it enthusiastically.. Federico Luis Aberastury, MD. Former Vice president, and Scientific Secretary, Asociacion Psicoanalitica Argrentina,