Interpersonal Psychoanalytic Perspectives On Relevance Dismissal And Self Definition

Most books on psychoanalysis, its theory or its process, are packed with abstract, esoteric lingo that's fars away from how people feel or express themselves. This one is different in that it's of the "she-Isaid" variety, and at the same time presents a pot full of insight about patients that really rings true. Dr. Levenson, in a truly lucid foreword, pegs dr. Feiner just right - a rare combination of the shades of Isaiah Berlin and Zorba the Greek. The book is erudite, scholarly and quite articulate and downright humorous, at times, all in the service of trying to capture precisely what goes on in interpersonal psychoanalysis, and how people might change. It is an area of psychotherapy that isn't written about usually. But the high point of this profound book is to demonstrate how authentic psychoanalysis is clearly non-adversarial and non-advice giving, but genuine analyses of the patient, the analyst himself, and their interaction. The themes of relevance and dismissal are central to our relations with other people and, therefore, to our concept of our identity. These themes of relevance and dismissal pervade Arthur Feiner's exploration of the core ideas of interpersonal psychoanalysis and his use of them in his clinical practice. This particular branch of psychoanalysis, developed by Sullivan, Fromm, Fromm-Reichmann and Thompson, shifts the focus from explaining experience to describing it, with an emphasis on therapeutic interaction. Our identity, or self-definition, is at least partially constructed from early relationships. The impact of the analyst's words and behaviour on the patient is crucial. Feiner considers the therapeutic relationship both from the patient's perspective - vengeful responses to dismissal, restlessness and the experience of hope - and from the analyst's - deliberate `misreading' as a form of intervention, the usefulness of errors, and the contradictions and difficulties inherent in supervising - taking an interpersonal psychoanalytic approach. Throughout he returns to his central themes, reiterating that the rage, anxiety and depression experienced by patients are expressions of the feeling of having been dismissed, of being no longer relevant.

Edgar A. Levenson is a key figure in the development of interpersonal psychoanalysis whose ideas remain influential. Interpersonal Psychoanalysis and the Enigma of Consciousness builds on his previously published work in his key areas of expertise such as interpersonal psychoanalysis, transference and countertransference, and the philosophy of psychoanalysis, and sets his ideas into contemporary context. Combining a selection of Levenson’s own writings with extensive discussion and analysis of his work by Stern and Slomowitz, it provides an invaluable guide to how his most recent, mature ideas may be understood and applied by contemporary psychoanalysts in their own practice. This book explores how the rational algorithm of psychoanalytic engagement and the mysterious flows of consciousness interact; this has traditionally been thought of as dialectical, an unresolvable duality in psychoanalytic practice. Analysts move back and forth between the two perspectives, rather like a gestalt leap, finding themselves listening either to the "interpersonal" or to the "intrapsychic" in what feels like a self-state leap. But the interpersonal is not in dialectical opposition to the intrapsychic; rather a manifestation of it, a subset. The chapters pick up from the themes explored in The Purloined Self, shifting the emphasis from the interpersonal field to the exploration of the enigma of the flow of consciousness that underlies the therapeutic process. This is not the Freudian Unconscious nor the consciousness of awareness, but the mysterious Jamesian matrix of being. Any effort at influence provokes resistance and refusal by the patient. Permitted a "working space," the patient ultimately cures herself. How that happens is a mystery wrapped up in the greater mystery of unconscious process, which in turn is wrapped into the greatest philosophical and neurological enigma of all—the nature of consciousness. Interpersonal Psychoanalysis and the Enigma of Consciousness will be highly engaging and readable; Levenson’s witty essayist style and original perspective will make it greatly appealing and accessible to undergraduate and postgraduate students of psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy, as well as practitioners in these fields.

The Purloined Self: Interpersonal Perspectives in Psychoanalysis brings together nineteen essays in updated form, still as relevant, witty and informative today as when the book originally published. Edgar Levenson is a key figure in the development of Interpersonal psychoanalysis and his ideas remain influential. This book covers his seminal writing on theoretical topics such as models of psychoanalysis, Harry Stack Sullivan’s theories, and the nature of change, as well as his more familiar focus on practical analytic topics such as transference, supervision, and the use of the self in psychoanalytic clinical work. The content ranges from more technical articles on psychoanalysis and general systems theory, the holographic dimensions of psychoanalytic change; on to issues of metapsychology; and then to articles devoted to examining the nuances of the therapeutic praxis. The general thrust of the book is in the Interpersonal tradition and is a major contribution to a contemporary elaboration of post-Sullivanian Interpersonalism, and of the two-person model of psychoanalysis that has come to permeate the entire field. With a new foreword by Donnel Stern, himself a major name in current Interpersonal analysis, this book gives a comprehensive overview of Levenson’s work, and its continued relevance in contemporary psychoanalytic thought. The Purloined Self is highly readable: the author’s witty essayist style and original perspective on its material has made it appealing across a wide range of readerships. It will appeal to psychoanalysts and psychoanalytic psychotherapists as well as undergraduate and advanced postgraduate students in these fields.

This volume takes a multi-level approach to understanding and treating personality disorder, identifying core symptoms and problems that many patients share and providing a comprehensive framework for clinical intervention. Drawing on etiological knowledge as well as outcome research, the book identifies effective strategies for addressing key areas of the patient's psychosocial and biological functioning. The clinician learns how to conceptualize the phases of treatment and use the stages-of-change model as a guide for sequencing and selecting appropriate interventions. Pragmatic and flexible, the research-based strategies presented here are applicable in diverse settings, in therapies ranging from crisis intervention to long-term treatment.

Mary Sherrill Durham explores the concepts of vengeance, revenge fantasies, and the granting or withholding of forgiveness, as they are manifested to the therapist during treatment. She also examines potential for the therapist/patient relationship to become a re-enactment of an abusive or controlling situation.

This is the first revised, expanded, and updated edition of Psychoanalytic Terms and Concepts since its third edition in 1990. It presents a scholarly exposition of English-language psychoanalytic terms and concepts, including those from all contemporary schools of theory and practice. Each entry starts with a brief definition that is followed by an explanation of the significance of the term/concept for psychoanalysis, its historical development, and the present-day controversies about best usage.