Overview
Offering new ways of thinking about the intimate connections between analyst and patient, this lucid, clinically oriented volume presents an innovative model of psychoanalytic change. The authors integrate current findings in self psychology, attachment and infant research, and developmental systems theory to demonstrate the transformative power of interpersonal sharing between both members of the dyad. Interweaving conceptual material and careful guidelines for practice with case studies and clinical commentary, Intimate Attachments illuminates the power of the psychoanalytic process and affords readers a heightened level of creativity, freedom, and spontaneity in their therapeutic work. The book opens with a review of the theoretical contributions of Kohut, Bowlby, and related thinkers, bringing a systemic perspective to the question of how psychoanalysis helps patients break free of old, traumatogenic patterns. The authors then develop the focal point of their approach -- the concept of the positive new experience. Encompassing a nonlinear process of the patient fully coming into being as a consolidated self, and coming into connection with the analyst as an intimate other, the positive new experience is examined in light of two key elements. First, the dimensions of intimacy are identified and elaborated. Informing the analyst's listening and responding position, the dimension of intimacy present at any given time reflects whether the primary focus is transformation of the self or the self in relation to others. Next, the relational configuration between patient and analyst is delineated. Laying the foundation for a compelling reconceptualization of transference, the authors demonstrate the roles played by three different relational configurations in moving the patient into a more adaptive experience of the here-and-now. The book includes extended clinical applications and covers implementation of the model across the lifespan, from infancy through adulthooThe book contains no figures.
Synopsis
Offering new ways of thinking about the intimate connections between analyst and patient, this lucid, clinically oriented volume presents an innovative model of psychoanalytic change. The authors integrate current findings in self psychology, attachment and infant research, and developmental systems theory to demonstrate the transformative power of interpersonal sharing between both members of the dyad. Interweaving conceptual material and careful guidelines for practice with case studies and clinical commentary, INTIMATE ATTACHMENTS illuminates the power of the psychoanalytic process and affords readers a heightened level of creativity, freedom, and spontaneity in their therapeutic work.
Booknews
Presents a model of psychoanalytic change integrating current concepts and findings in self psychology, attachment and infant research, and developmental systems theory, demonstrating the transformative power of interpersonal sharing between analyst and patient. The focal point of the approach is the concept of the positive new experience. Combines conceptual material and guidelines with case studies, clinical commentary, and examples of implementation of the model across the lifespan. For mental health practitioners and students interested in psychodynamic theory and treatment. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.
Editorials
From the Publisher
"The authors of Intimate Attachments are consummate integrationists. They masterfully weave together conceptual strands from classical analysis, self psychology, intersubjectivity theory, motivational systems theory, attachment theory, infant research, and principles of nonlinear systems into a comprehensive, multidimensional, developmentally based psychoanalytic framework that is both a significant theoretical advance and extremely useful clinically. The therapeutic implications of this framework, emphasizing the transformative potential of positive new experiences with the analyst, are immensely important and thought-provoking." --Robert D. Stolorow, PhD, Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis, Los Angeles"Shane, Shane and Gales' new book, Intimate Attachments, is a brilliant integration of systems theory, attachment research and self psychology. Their application of the theory of bi-directional co-construction to the clinical encounter, and to the role of a mutual intimate attachment in therapeutic change, richly expands our understanding of the analyst's as well as the patient's development. This is an enormously valuable book for the practicing clinician, richly illustrated with clinical examples, written in a fresh, accessible style." --Beatrice Beebe, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, Faculty member at NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis, The Institute for the Psychoanalytic Study of Subjectivity, Columbia University Psychoanalytic Center
"This is a masterful integration of self-psychology, attachment theory, and developmental systems perspectives. The authors do a superb job of extracting the major principles from each of these perspectives in a clear and cogent manner. There is a strong connection with contemporary research and theory in developmental psychology; because of this the authors preserve and yet transform psychoanalytic theory, and in so doing revitalize it as a clinical framework. The book is beautifully written. It is thoroughly lucid and engaging." --L. Alan Sroufe, PhD, Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota
"A book so clear, cogent, and compelling that the reader is able to see its fundamental and revolutionary message as unassailable. The authors reposition psychoanalysis as a developmental experience and support their perspective with elegance and enthusiasm." --Arnold Goldberg, MD, Professor of Psychiatry, Rush Medical College; Training and Supervising Analysis, Institute for Psychoanalysis, Chicago
"This is a remarkable and outstanding achievement. It is the best integration of psychoanalytic theory and attachment theory available so far. It reflects the authors' rich experience of the self-psychology tradition and a remarkable grasp of the attachment literature. It succeeds where many others have failed in showing the value of integrating these related and expanding bodies of work rather than carping from the sidelines of the inadequacies of one or other approaches. It is a genuine work of integration which could dramatically advance the field. The authors are to be congratulated for the imagination and sensitivity with which they identify clinically pertinent aspects of attachment theory and combine this and use compelling clinical illustrations to bring the theoretical integration alive and relevant to clinical work." --Peter Fonagy, Freud Memorial Professor of Psychoanalysis, University of London