Martin, the author, gets an opportunity to lead an education tour of Turkey through travel grant approved by the university. There are five couples in the group, four married couples and one lesbian couple, and the conversations between them majorly revolve around psychoanalysis and debate surrounding psychoanalytic psychotherapy and psychodynamic therapy. Neerja reviews the debut fiction of Prof. Ashoka Jahnavi Prasad, exclusively in Different Truths.

A Psychoanalytical Journey, the first fiction work by Prof. Ashoka Jahnavi Prasad, was introduced to me by the doctor himself. It is an honour to get a chance to write a book review for an eminent Psychiatrist. At the very onset, I would like to mention that Prof. Prasad has a very good command over the traditional English. The vocabulary is too powerful, which in turn becomes both a strong point of the book as well as a weakness. The reader of the book, unwittingly, will improve his word power without which it would be difficult to read through the chapters. I must compliment Prof. Prasad for high syntax quality. The book is meant for and would be appreciated by learned psychoanalysts.

There is much information from psychology, English literature, and history in the book. With every second sentence the reader is compelled to recollect some theory from psychology or some quote from literature or some part of ancient history, now this renders the book little complicated for the common reader.

The book is written in the first person in which Martin, the author, gets an opportunity to lead an education tour of Turkey through travel grant approved by the university. The tour group consists of mental health professionals in which one member happens to be an ex-client of the author whom he adored and in whom he found a reason to live and love after his wife’s death. During the tour, he hopes to rekindle affection in her, the affection she used to have for him during the therapy sessions.

There are five couples in the group, four married couples and one lesbian couple, and the conversations between them majorly revolve around psychoanalysis and debate surrounding psychoanalytic psychotherapy and psychodynamic therapy. The group travels to many universities attending lectures. Through this academic tour and the interactions between the group members, the history and development of psychoanalysis are unfolded.

The book is highly recommended from the learning point of view but not for light reading. The author has made the characters discuss and debate the pros and cons of psychoanalysis. Through the characters, the reader gets to understand the high and low points of classical Freudian concepts of transference and countertransference and various other concepts. In nutshell, the reader is enriched with vocabulary, historical events, and various psychological concepts.

©Neerja Pandey

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Neerja Pandey

Dr. Neerja Pandey, Assistant Professor, Amity University Lucknow, lifetime member of ‘Association of Rehabilitation Psychologists – India (ARPI), registered with RCI, is Ph.D. from Osmania University, and M. Phil from National Institute for Empowerment of People with Intellectual Disabilities, Hyderabad. Along with being a rehabilitation psychologist, she is trained in clinical hypnotherapy as well as counseling. A B.Ed. from Gorakhpur University, she has 18 years of teaching experience and 10 years of counseling.

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