Psychoanalytic Companioning

Grossmark, Robert

doi:10.1080/10481885.2016.1235447

Cited by 36 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Various authors describe this stance with different but overlapping perspectives: "presencing" and "being withness" (Eshel 2013), "companioning" (Grossmark 2016), "duetting" (Purcell 2019), mutual regression and synchronization (Schore 2019). In response to Diamond's intervention, Ms. A.…”

Section: I a M O N D ' S A P P L I C At I O N O F C O N F L I C T T H E O Ry T O T R Au M A-r E L At E D P S Yc H O Pat H O Lo Gymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is a state of mind in which the analyst forgoes, as much as possible, leading the patient (Greenberg 2001) and gives himself over to following the patient (Purcell 2019). Ideally the analyst is unobtrusive and accompanies the patient (Grossmark 2012a,b, 2016); interpretation is obtrusive. 10 While I do recognize a broad relevance of Diamond’s recommendation of a “dual-track” technique (p. 856), I think the “archeological” track of interpretation should be subordinated to a “transformational” track that is facilitated by the way of being that I am referencing.…”

Section: Diamond’s Application Of Conflict Theory To Trauma-related Psychopathologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…But I also think that we can see how Diamond’s discomfort—“an urgency to reach her” (p. 860)—shaped by his orientation toward conflict and defense, takes him out of the sharing of experience and leads him to interpret defense—the patient’s “spacing out.” This is an obtrusive technique that precludes what I believe would be a more therapeutic stance. Various authors describe this stance with different but overlapping perspectives: “presencing” and “being withness” (Eshel 2013), “companioning” (Grossmark 2016), “duetting” (Purcell 2019), mutual regression and synchronization (Schore 2019). In response to Diamond’s intervention, Ms. A.…”

Section: Diamond’s Application Of Conflict Theory To Trauma-related Psychopathologymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Dissociation: Dissemblance or Dis-Assembly? Commentary on Diamond

Purcell¹

2020

J Am Psychoanal Assoc

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A remarkable degree of ambiguity, imprecision, and disagreement characterizes the literature on dissociation and the clinical theory of treating dissociative psychopathology. I admire very much, therefore, Michael Diamond's effort to clarify some of the complex theoretical and technical issues central to the psychoanalytic treatment of people suffering the sequelae of trauma and dissociation. I particularly appreciate his position that a "psychoanalytic treatment model that addresses only linguistically represented conflict is destined to fail because the weakly symbolized traumatic material accompanying dissociative states primarily resides in somatic experience" (p. 847). In my view, psychoanalysis must address more completely and explicitly the important conceptual and technical implications of the fundamental role of unsymbolized, "somatic" experience in trauma-related psychopathology and of the nonverbal therapeutic processes relevant to its treatment.But as I read Diamond, I am also far less certain than he seems to be that it is necessary or desirable to "integrate" the technical approach that follows from conflict theory with that of trauma theory. It depends, of course, on exactly what he means by "integrate." I am not clear on this point and find myself confused, for instance, by his initial emphasis on "integration" followed by his eventual endorsement of a "dual-track" technical approach (p. 856). Perhaps by "integration" he means something like

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Section: I a M O N D ' S A P P L I C At I O N O F C O N F L I C T T H E O Ry T O T R Au M A-r E L At E D P S Yc H O Pat H O Lo Gymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Diamond’s Application Of Conflict Theory To Trauma-related Psychopathologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Diamond’s Application Of Conflict Theory To Trauma-related Psychopathologymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Dissociation: Dissemblance or Dis-Assembly? Commentary on Diamond

Purcell¹

2020

J Am Psychoanal Assoc

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“…When I have seen this progression occur in my group, it seems to have taken place because: (a) The group already shares a powerful and rare unconscious bond of witnessed, shared suffering, and (b) My group facilitation approach is to attempt to be optimally responsive (Bacal, 2017) to patients’ private, incomprehensible, and shameful self-states of depression. The focus is on helping members voice and form points of contact with others rather than emphasizing reduction of symptoms: to go “further into our patients’ worlds of suffering and private madness rather than working to move them out of these states” (Grossmark, 2016, p. 699).…”

Section: The Influence Of Medicine and Psychoanalysis On The Patient’...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Hidden in plain sight: Creating space for the elusive “me” of depression.

Kaplan¹

2018

Psychoanalytic Psychology

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Institute for the Psychoanalytic Study of SubjectivityThe setting is a psychiatric inpatient unit where I conduct groups for patients diagnosed with depressive disorders. In some respects, the group members' presentation fits with the symptoms for the depressive disorders outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). However, there is an emotional configuration of depression that also emerges during the group therapy sessions that is less easily defined. It is a self-state that is not dissociated but, rather, experienced by the patients as distant and only somewhat recognizable. It is what I call a state of "distant or unfamiliar me." For many reasons, these patients struggle to give voice to this emotional experience. Yet, they seem to have greater access to this self-state when attending group therapy on the inpatient unit. In this article, I describe the nature of this self-state and the act of "witnessing" that occurs on the unit and that facilitates access to what often remains a shameful, sequestered aspect of self. In addition, I focus on the complex system created by the integration of psychoanalysis and the medical model, and how this unique configuration impacts the patients' access to different self-states. Finally, I describe how utilizing my own history of suffering contributes to the therapeutic process and aids in the patients' capacity to create meaning and bridge the gap between distant states of self.

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“…Grossmark adds that this loss of male privilege is necessary if one is to recognize and respect that children are subjects in their own right. In line with Grossmark's (2016) earlier work on companionship, we are treated in the papers that follow to meditations on broken containers and desires for containment in addition to nuanced comparisons of holding and letting go.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Introduction to Reconstructing Fatherhood

Rothschild¹

2019

Psychoanalytic Perspectives

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An introduction to three papers that focus on fatherhood. Common to each paper is an understanding that the loss of idealization in adult identity development affords working with an aftermath of melancholy that can alter the role of fatherhood in a pro-social direction. To that end, intersectionality, essentialism, and challenges of being Other are addressed with a focus that is simultaneously clinically and culturally attuned.

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Psychoanalytic Companioning

Cited by 36 publications

References 23 publications

Dissociation: Dissemblance or Dis-Assembly? Commentary on Diamond

Dissociation: Dissemblance or Dis-Assembly? Commentary on Diamond

Hidden in plain sight: Creating space for the elusive “me” of depression.

Introduction to Reconstructing Fatherhood

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