Routledge Mental Health

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• Price: $84.95 $76.46
• Hardback: 368 pages
• Published: October 2004
• ISBN: 978-0-88163-374-0
• Publisher: Routledge

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Transformations in Self Psychology highlights the manner in which contemporary self psychology has become, in the words of series editor William Coburn, "a continuing series of revolutions within a revolution." Of special note are contributions that explore the bidirectional influences between self psychology and other explanatory paradigms. The volume begins with Stern's thoughtful attempt to integrate self-psychological and relational perspectives on transference-countertransference enactments. Fosshage and Munschauer's presentation of a case of "extreme nihilism and aversiveness" elicits a series of discussions that constructively highlights divergent perspectives on the meaning and role of enactment in treatment and on the so-called empathy/authenticity dichotomy.

The productive exploration of theoretical differences also enters in the redefinition of notions of gender and sexuality, a topic of increasing interest to self psychologists. Differing perspectives, which give rise to differing clinical emphases, emerge in the exchanges of Clifford and Goldner, and of VanDerHeide and Hartmann. The special "contextualist" demands of work with intercultural couples foster a more integrative sensibility, with self-psychological borrowings from interpretive anthropology and attachment theory.

Clinical contributors to Volume 20 explore manifestations of a tension that permeates all analytic work: that between the patient's newly emerging ability to expand the self in growth-consolidating ways and the countervailing dread to repeat. Enlarged by Malin's personal reflections of "Fifty Years of Psychoanalysis" and by book review essays focusing on the writings of Lachmann and Stolorow, respectively, Transformations in Self Psychology bespeaks the continuing vitality of contemporary self psychology.

Table of Contents

Part I: Integration and Syncretism. Stern, The Yin and Yang of Intersubjectivity: Integrating Self-Psychological and Relational Thinking. Fosshage, Munschauer, Facilitative Analytic Interaction in a Case of Extreme Nihilism and Aversiveness. Fuqua, A Self-Psychological Viewpoint: A Discussion of Fosshage and Munschauer's Clinical Case. Trop, Burke, A Dynamic Systems Viewpoint: A Discussion of Fosshage and Munschauer's Case. Crastnopol, A Relational Viewpoint: A Discussion of Fosshage and Munschauer's Clinical Case. Fosshage, Munschauer, Facilitative Interaction, Rules, Enactments and A Spirit of Inquiry: Reply to the Discussions. Part II: Working in Trauma. Perlman, Who Dissociates? Incest Survivor or Therapist? Walker, Dudley, Trauma and Recovery: A Story of Personal Transformation and Healing Amidst the Terror of September 11. Part III: Multiculturalism. Rubalcava, Waldman, Working with Intercultural Couples: An Intersubjective-Constructivist Perspective. Howard, An Attachment Systems Perspective Treatment of a Bicultural Couple. Part IV: Countertransference. Leighton, The Analyst's Sham(e): Collapsing into a One-Person System. Preston, Shumsky, Who Tore the Web? Thoughts on Psychoanalytic Authority and Response-ability. Part V: Gender and Sexuality. Clifford, The Case of Davida. Goldner, Gender and Trauma: A Discussion of Michael D. Clifford's Clinical Case. Clifford, Reply to Discussion. VanDerHeide, Sexualization in a Clincal Case. Hartmann, Mirroring and Mentalizing: A Discussion of Nancy VanDerHeide's Clinical Case. VanDerHeide, Enmeshment, Enactments, and Engagement: Reply to Discussion. Part VI: Personal Reflections. Malin, Personal Reflections: Fifty Years in Psychoanalysis. Part VII: Book Reviews. Wiesel-Barth, The Wide-Ranging Worlds of Frank Lachmann. Buirksi, Worlds of Experience: An Interview with Robert D. Stolorow. Part VII: Addendum. Fosshage, The Role of Empathy and Interpretation in the Therapeutic Process: Commentary on Discussions of Salee Jenkins's Clinical Case.

Author/Editor Biography

William J. Coburn, Ph.D., Psy.D., is Training and Supervising Analyst, Faculty, and Board Director at the Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis, Los Angeles, and is Editorial Board Member of Psychoanalytic Inquiry. He is Member of the International Council of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology and Board Member of the Association for Autonomous Psychoanalytic Institutes. The recipient of the 1999 Daphne S. Stolorow Memorial Essay Award and the 2000 Karl Menninger Memorial Essay Award, he has published and presented numerous articles on countertransference, intersubjectivity, supervision, and complexity theory.