Overview
The Psychoanalytic Couch offers a comprehensive overview and a poetic rethinking of the psychoanalytic couch. Part I presents an extensive study of how the couch has been implicitly or explicitly theorised by major figures in the field, including Freud, Ferenczi, Winnicott, Bion, Bollas, Ogden, Green, and Lacan, by extracting, organising, and developing their dispersed contributions on the subject. Part II moves into the poetic and etymological realm of the word diwan, tracing its roots to Persian and Arabic traditions. Krüger develops an original model for clinical listening and intervention, where the “cloud state” plays an important role in analytic technique. Concepts such as condensation (Verdichtung), symbolic vesture and the structuring of psychic regions are reinterpreted through this prism, offering a new way to conceptualize transference and analytic presence. The book fulfils a significant gap in psychoanalytic theory and training by elevating a central yet neglected clinical element to conceptual prominence. The Psychoanalytic Couch will be essential reading for psychoanalysts in practice and in training, and for readers interested in the intersections between psychoanalysis, art and literature.
Full Product Details
Author: Lucas Krüger
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint: Routledge
ISBN: 9781041157939
ISBN 10: 1041157932
Pages: 224
Publication Date: 15 May 2026
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Tertiary & Higher Education
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming
Availability: Not yet available
This item is yet to be released. You can pre-order this item and we will dispatch it to you upon its release.
Reviews
“In this remarkable and original book, the Brazilian psychoanalyst Lucas Krüger examines the origins and development of psychoanalysis, taking as a guide an essential yet neglected part of the analytic setting: the couch. In his tour de force, Krüger shows the different ways in which analysts from different periods and schools have reflected on and conceptualized the presence and possible roles of the couch and its unconscious meanings. In the second part of this fascinating journey, the author connects psychoanalysis with poetry and art and develops his own insights and reflections on his original formulation of the “cloud state.” I strongly recommend The Psychoanalytic Couch, both for seasoned analysts and for newcomers, as a guide to discover or rediscover the basis of this fascinating field through the eyes and the pen of an author who demonstrates a talented ability to dive with elegance and precision into the infinite seas of psychoanalysis and poetry.” - Cláudio Laks Eizirik Professor Emeritus, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul; Former President of the International Psychoanalytic Association (IPA)
Author Information
Lucas Krüger is a psychoanalyst, writer, musician, translator and editor based in Brazil. He is the author of books on psychoanalysis, poetry and children’s literature, and has edited over 70 titles. His work bridges psychoanalysis and the arts while bringing the field’s historical legacy into dialogue with contemporary practice, raising new questions for clinical reflection.
