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In this provocative contribution to both psychoanalytic theory and the philosophy of science, Louis Berger grapples with the nature of'consequential'theorizing, i.e., theorizing that is relevant to what transpires in clinical practice. By examining analysis as a genre of'state process formalism'- the standard format of scientific theories - Berger demonstrates why contemporary theorizing inevitably fails to explain crucial aspects of practice. His critique, in this respect, pertains both to the formal structure of psychoanalytic explanation and the technical language through which this structure gains expression.The pragmatic recommendations that issue from this critique are illustrated with respect to a number of perennial problem areas besetting analysis and cognate disciplines. In a discussion that encompases theories of affect, issues in family therapy, the nature of first-language acquisition, and the philisophical topics of free will and determinism, Berger shows that certain systems of representation (including ordinary language) can describe the psychological realm adequately, and that such systems necessarily follow modern physics in rejecting naive assumptions about the separability of theory and practice. His proposals culminate in a'nonhierarchical'conception of psychoanalytic theory that assigns a separate status to the clinically pragmatic level of theorizing.In both his critique of contemporary analysis and his reconstructive proposals, Berger fuses into a highly readable argument a fascinating range of insights culled from epistemology, linguistics, physics, logic, computer science, history, and aesthetics. More impressively still, he demonstrates how an investigation of psychoanalytic theory can serve as a vehicle for examining pervasive epistemological issues in both philosophy and the social sciences.

What can psychoanalysis contribute to an understanding of the etiology, treatment, and prevention of substance abuse? Here, Louis Berger contests both the orthodox view of substance abuse as a'disease'explicable within the medical model, and the fashionable dissenting view that substance abuse is a habit controllable through the'willpower'fostered by superficial treatment approaches. According to Berger, substance abuse is first and foremost a symptom. He argues that it is only by grasping this fact that we can understand why standard approaches to treatment and prevention have failed. Berger invokes a wide spectrum of recent analytic insights about infant and child development, the psychology of narcissism, and primitive character disorders in making the case that substance abuse masks serious preoedipal (or'midrange') psychopathology. Such psychopathology, operating at both cultural and person levels, explains why certain individuals become dependent on illicit drugs; it is equally revelatory of why the substance abuse'establishment'-- and society at large -- continues to misconstrue the nature of the problem and to proffer ill-conceived and ineffective remedies. After thoroughly examining the motives, conscious and unconscious, that maintain'mainstream'myths about substance abuse, Berger points the way to alternative approaches to prevention and treatment.