My Relational Self Psychology

Abstract

In this article, I suggest recent sources of influence on psychoanalysis and describe a contemporary relational self psychology that is my personal attempt at integration. Even with this integration, I struggle to find the right "therapeutic" balance between my essential but imperfect instrument for empathic listening, on the one hand, and the risks of authentic engagement, on the other. These dialectical tensions in me mirror those in the psychoanalytic community as a whole, poised between a scientifically based practice and a healing "art"--or between a complex but teachable methodology or discipline-and an ordinary (yet extraordinary) human relationship in which spontaneity and even improvisation play a role. Complicating this balancing act, there is new evidence from neuroscientists, attachment theorists, and infant-caregiver researchers that, from birth onward, bidirectional influences on brain and psychic development create contingent and unpredictable outcomes in every intimately related dyad. Thus, the contemporary analyst must expect to be changed by the work and--while taking full responsibility for his or her own contribution--must recognize patient and analyst as co-creators of the psychoanalytic project. At the same time that we now recognize contingency, complexity, and chaos at the heart of human minds and relationships, we also acknowledge the central importance of a sense of continuity and coherence as the individual undertakes the pursuit of goals and relationships in life. What kind of relationship can facilitate these qualities in the sense of self? That is the question that this article undertakes to answer.

The Contours of Identity: Relational Dynamics in the Psychotherapy of Long-Term Mental Illness

“…In a daily existence where much felt painfully absent, where friendships were hard to come by and difficult to maintain, where fears of loneliness and isolation hardly ever abated, we kept searching and struggling for a measure of togetherness. Traveling with one another across unknown territory assuaged torment and gave a hint of purpose to a solitary passage that often escaped comprehension (Teicholz 2009). Our task was discovering a way to make experienceeither current or distant-usable.…”

Relational Social Work Practice with Diverse Populations

“…Relational social work emphasizes the core value of healing in context and with veterans must include disjuncture in context. Deconstruction as well as reconstruction of an individual's narrative is bidirectional; the relational clinical relationship's emphasis on mutuality in problem definition and context-embedded attunement to past and future allows interpersonal recognition, a primary self organizer, to be a vehicle for self-healing to occur Schamess 2011 ;Teicholz 2009 ). The military value of interdependence for survival and growth is in keeping with a relational social work perspective and can be emphasized to counteract infantilization in help receiving (Grossman and Christenson 2008 ;Herman 1992 ;Hoge 2010 ).…”