About — Karnacology
Karnacology aims to facilitate contact and discussion amongst practising professionals in the mental health field. But also to provide services and ideas for authors (and potential authors) on how best to reach their audience. We also aim to cover anything to do with authoring books or content in the mental health field.
Boundaries and limitations
Nothing that we provide on this site has the character of or should be construed as medical advice, or as otherwise telling or instructing you what to do. Karnacology, Karnac Books Ltd. and the site’s contributors take no responsibility for giving advice on any specific individual clinical issue.
Where the Name Comes From
Karnacology takes its name from Karnac Books, which Harry Karnac (1919–2014) opened at 58 Gloucester Road, London, in 1950. It began as an ordinary neighbourhood bookshop, and then the psychoanalyst Clifford Scott suggested that it stock a Winnicott pamphlet. After that, it became the world’s best-known specialist psychoanalytic bookseller. From 1981 it was also a publisher in its own right, and it ultimately produced well over 1,200 psychological titles. The full story appears in Brett Kahr’s tribute, Harry Karnac: the Prince of Psychological Bookselling.
What You’ll Find Here
The archive preserves the original Karnacology material written for and by mental health professionals: author interviews with figures from Brett Kahr to Peter Philippson, book reviews, the ART/THERAPY series on creativity and the consulting room, recordings of Freud and Lacan, and profiles of writers such as Adam Phillips and Christopher Bollas.
Alongside the archive, the site now also publishes practical, plain-language guides for people trying to find, evaluate, and afford therapy today. Cost breakdowns, comparisons of therapy formats, and honest reviews of online services. The editorial standards are the same in both halves: no guaranteed outcomes, no substitute for professional advice. And a disclosure of how the modern guides are funded.
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