Salman Akhtar

Salman Akhtar, MD, is professor of psychiatry at Jefferson Medical College and a training and supervising analyst at the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia. He has served on the editorial boards of the International Journal of Psychoanalysis and the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association. His more than 450 publications include twenty-three solo authored books – Broken Structures (1992), Quest for Answers (1995), Inner Torment (1999), Immigration and Identity (1999), New Clinical Realms (2003), Objects of Our Desire (2005), Regarding Others (2007), Turning Points in Dynamic Psychotherapy (2009), The Damaged Core (2009), Comprehensive Dictionary of Psychoanalysis (2009), Immigration and Acculturation (2011), Matters of Life and Death (2011), Psychoanalytic Listening (2013), Good Stuff (2013), Sources of Suffering (2014), No Holds Barred (2016), A Web of Sorrow (2017), Mind, Culture, and Global Unrest (2018), Silent Virtues (2019), Tales of Transformation (2022), In Leaps and Bounds (2022), and In Short (2024) – as well as sixty-nine edited or coedited volumes in psychiatry and psychoanalysis. Dr. Akhtar has delivered many prestigious addresses and lectures including, most significantly, the inaugural address at the first IPA-Asia Congress in Beijing, China (2010). Dr. Akhtar is the recipient of the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association’s Best Paper of the Year Award (1995), the Margaret Mahler Literature Prize (1996), the American Society of Psychoanalytic Physicians’ Sigmund Freud Award (2000), the American College of Psychoanalysts’ Laughlin Award (2003), the American Psychoanalytic Association’s Edith Sabshin Award (2000), Columbia University’s Robert Liebert Award for Distinguished Contributions to Applied Psychoanalysis (2004), the American Psychiatric Association’s Kun Po Soo Award (2004), the Irma Bland Award for being the Outstanding Teacher of Psychiatric Residents in the country (2005), and the Nancy Roeske Award (2012). He received the Sigourney Award (2013), which is the most prestigious honor in the field of psychoanalysis. Dr. Akhtar is an internationally sought speaker and teacher, and his books have been translated in many languages, including German, Turkish, and Romanian. His interests are wide and he has served as the film review editor for the International Journal of Psychoanalysis, and is currently serving as the book review editor for the International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies. He has published eighteen collections of poetry and serves as a scholar-in-residence at the Inter-Act Theatre Company in Philadelphia. His Selected Papers (Vols I–X) were recently published and released at a festive event held at the Freud House & Museum in London.

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The Joy of Torment: Understanding and Managing Sadomasochism

Edited by Salman Akhtar, Lisa Crilley

A search for answers on the subject of sadomasochism: its origins, forms and functions, nature, and societal status. An international group of distinguished psychiatrists, psychologists, and... (more)

Unlit Corners: Dirtiness, Miserliness, Shyness, Outrageousness, Shallowness, Indecisiveness, Restlessness, and Cowardliness

Edited by Salman Akhtar

Unlit Corners endeavours to bring light to neglected character traits which many struggle to overcome. Filled with relevant case studies and carefully crafted psychoanalytic theory, the book... (more)

In Short: Private Notes of a Psychoanalyst

by Salman Akhtar

In Short: Private Notes of a Psychoanalyst is wise, uplifting and inspiring. Salman Akhtar brings his talent for poetic literature to gift us 111 pithy ‘proto essays’ on a wide range of subjects. His... (more)

Tales of Transformation: A Life in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis

by Salman Akhtar

One hundred (and one) tales to mark Salman Akhtar’s one hundredth book! Divided into eight informative parts – Dr Akhtar’s journey to psychoanalysis; the lessons he learned from his teachers,... (more)

Food Matters: Biopsychosocial Perspectives

Edited by Salman Akhtar, Nina Savelle-Rocklin

Food matters because food is essential to sustain life, and food matters are complex and wide-ranging, encompassing the symbolic as well as the practical. The rich discussions of the relationship... (more)

Truth: Developmental, Cultural, and Clinical Realms

Edited by Salman Akhtar

This edited collection gathers together erudite and considered contributions from Salman Akhtar, Cobi Avshalom, Brett Clarke, Mali Mann, Gila Ofer, Thomas Ogden, Louis Rothschild, Batya Shoshani,... (more)

On Freud's "Beyond the Pleasure Principle"

Edited by Salman Akhtar, Mary Kay O'Neil

Freud's Beyond the Pleasure Principle constitutes a major landmark and a real turning point in the evolution of psychoanalytic theory. Pushing aside the primacy of the tension-discharge-gratification... (more)

In Leaps and Bounds: Psychic Development and Its Facilitation in Treatment

by Salman Akhtar

A tour de force from the inimitable Salman Akhtar. Dr Akhtar brings his encyclopaedic knowledge of psychoanalysis to present a deceptively simple guide to personality development across the full... (more)

Psychoanalytic Listening: Methods, Limits, and Innovations

by Salman Akhtar

'Joseph Breuer’s celebrated patient, Anna O., designated psychoanalysis to be a "talking cure". She was correct insofar as psychoanalysis does place verbal exchange at the center stage. However, the... (more)

A Web of Sorrow: Mistrust, Jealousy, Lovelessness, Shamelessness, Regret, Hopelessness

by Salman Akhtar

Bringing together the experiences of mistrust, jealousy, lack of love, shamelessness, regret, and despair, this far-reaching book elucidates human sorrow in striking sociocultural and clinical... (more)

Selected Papers of Salman Akhtar

by Salman Akhtar

Salman Akhtar is a Professor of Psychiatry, a Training and Supervising Analyst, a member of numerous editorial boards, winner of many awards, including the highly prestigious Sigourney Award, a... (more)

Besides Family: Extending the Orbit of Psychic Development

Edited by Salman Akhtar, April Fallon

With contributions from Salman Akhtar, Patricia Boguski, Ann Eichen, April Fallon, Theodore Fallon, Jr., Rama Rao Gogineni, Mark Moore, Sonja Ware.

Collectively authored by psychoanalytic... (more)

Good Stuff: Courage, Resilience, Gratitude, Generosity, Forgiveness, and Sacrifice

by Salman Akhtar

Good Stuff is divided into two main parts; Part I addresses Positive Attributes and Part II, Positive Actions. The former contains chapters on Courage, Resilience, and Gratitude. The latter contains... (more)

Shame: Developmental, Cultural, and Clinical Realms

Edited by Salman Akhtar

A late-comer to psychoanalytic theorizing, 'shame' results from a disjunction between the ego and the ego-ideal. A complex psychosocial experience, it is comprised of a painful exposure of one’s... (more)

Guilt: Origins, Manifestations, and Management

Edited by Salman Akhtar

Guilt: Origins, Manifestations, and Management is replete with clinical pearls and highly useful tips for the management of patients driven by feelings of guilt and remorse. Eight distinguished... (more)

Real and Imaginary Fathers: Development, Transference, and Healing

by Salman Akhtar

In this work, Salman Akhtar looks at how many fathers unconsciously, and sometimes quite consciously, attempt to revise their own traumatized childhood by providing their children with possibilities... (more)

On Freud's "Negation"

Edited by Mary Kay O'Neil, Salman Akhtar

Ever since Freud proposed that certain ideas can be permitted to become conscious only in their inverted and negative forms, interest has grown into the entire realm of the presence of absence, so to... (more)

Betrayal: Developmental, Literary, and Clinical Realms

Edited by Salman Akhtar

Betrayal underlies all psychic trauma, whether sexual abuse or profound neglect, violence or treachery, extramarital affair or embezzlement. When we betray others, we violate their confidence in us.... (more)

On Freud's "The Unconscious"

Edited by Salman Akhtar, Mary Kay O'Neil

If there ever was one word that could represent the essence of Freud’s work, that word would be ‘unconscious’. Indeed, Freud himself regarded his 1915 paper ‘The Unconscious’ as central to clarifying... (more)

Good Stuff: Generosity, Resilience, Humility, Gratitude, Forgiveness, and Sacrifice

by Salman Akhtar

Comprehensive Dictionary of Psychoanalysis

by Salman Akhtar

This book provides easy to read, concise, and clinically useful explanations of over 1800 terms and concepts from the field of psychoanalysis. A history of each term is included in its definition and... (more)

Fatherhood Scenarios: Development, Culture, Psychopathology and Treatment

Edited by Rama Rao Gogineni, Andres J. Pumariega

Fatherhood Scenarios offers a wide range of perspectives, including different cultural and ethnic perspectives and chapters considering the role of the father throughout the lifespan, including... (more)

Freud in Istanbul: Turkish Contributions to Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis

by Salman Akhtar

A vital book that seeks to place Turkish contributions to psychoanalytic theory and practice on the international stage from which, until now, it has been curiously absent. It includes chapters from... (more)

Marriage and Its Discontents: Variations, Vexations, and Violations

Edited by Salman Akhtar, Ann Eichen

With contributions from Anne Adelman, Salman Akhtar, Shawn Blue, Ann Eichen, Arpana G. Inman, Sameer Khan, Olga Santa Maria, Andrew Smolar, and Pratyusha Tummala-Narra.

This is a book about... (more)