This entry provides an overview of liberatory psychoanalysis. The introduction responds to common objections, defines the field and emphasizes its explicitly political orientation, including its alignment with liberation movements and its use of their perspective to critique traditional psychoanalytic theories and practices. The text then traces the historical development of liberatory psychoanalysis within and beyond Europe, from the foundational work of Sigmund Freud to contemporary positions against capitalism, heteropatriarchy and coloniality. The entry also outlines major challenges and debates within the field, particularly those arising from tensions between the clinical and the political, theory and practice, center and margins, and involvement and demarcation regarding systems of oppression such as capitalism, colonialism and patriarchy. The last section considers potential and desirable directions for the future development of liberatory psychoanalysis.

Obtained from author’s Academia profile