The Unobtrusive Relational Analyst

The Man of the House: Commentary on Thomas Burkhalter’s “Foregrounding Masculinities in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy”

“…He tells us that he seeks to reduce the possibility of enactments, rather like classical analysts sought to reduce countertransference. He suffers because there is no vision of the benefit of welcoming and working through enactments (Bass, 2003;Director, in press;Grossmark, 2012aGrossmark, , 2012bReis, 2010). Indeed he removes himself from any feeling of sympathy with Mr. Jones and honestly tells us that he was "relieved that I was safely distant, that I was not like Mr. Jones, that he was other, and also that my authority … was still intact" (p. 340).…”

“…We appreciate association, enactment, and negative capability. We live within and through enactments, not knowing where we are going and what personal changes lie in wait for our patients and for us (Bass, 2003;Director, in press;Grossmark, 2012aGrossmark, , 2012b. In short, we value nonconsciousness.…”

“…Many of us know the wrenching work of encountering the not-me in our clinical interactions and the relief when we remove ourselves from the primary mixup that patients often induce. However, our notions of therapeutic action now embrace these moments and ask us to engage with what may be dissociated or to consider that such vivid arousal engendered in the therapist is often a signal of projective identification that speaks to a more primitive self state calling out for recognition and withness (Eshel, 2013;Grossmark, 2012aGrossmark, , 2012b.…”

Introduction

“…Perhaps it will help those in the relational community for whom some of these ideas are new to think of links to the longstanding interpersonal perspectives of Levenson (1972Levenson ( , 1983 and Wolstein, (1988) the field theory elements in the intersubjective schools, relational and interpersonal, (see Stern, 1997Stern, , 2013aStern, , 2013b). Grossmark's (2012) attention to the "unobstrusive", companioning analyst is another focus on the delicate often presymbolic or nonsymbolizable aspects of analytic work and listening. Reverie is one framework for this analytic stance.…”

The Conductor’s Self-disclosure of Negative Countertransference in Group Analytic Psychotherapy

“…In contrast to Cohen and Schermer (2001) Billow emphasizes the unconscious nature of the leader's participation and holds that awareness is only accessible in hindsight and sometimes is impossible without the group's input. Grossmark (2012) and Billow agree that the leader's self-disclosure is an expression of his strong emotional involvement, but believe that it is not its single expression. Grossmark (2015) told a group he conducted a dream that he had about the group, but does not describe its influence on the group.…”