A Relational Psychoanalytic Approach to Couples Psychotherapy

Winner of the 2014 Goethe Award for Psychoanalytic and Psychodynamic Scholarship A Relational Psychoanalytic Approach to Couples Psychotherapy presents an original model of couples treatment integrating ideas from a host of authors in relational psychoanalysis. It also includes other psychoanalytic traditions as well as ideas from other social sciences. This book addresses a vacuum in contemporary psychoanalysis devoid of a comprehensively relational way to think about the practice of psychoanalytically oriented couples treatment. In this bookPhilip Ringstrom sets out a theory of practice that is based on three broad themes: The actualization of self experience in an intimate relationship The partners' capacity for mutual recognition versus mutual negation The relationship having a mind of its own Based on these three themes Ringstrom's model of treatment is articulated in six non-linear non-hierarchical steps that wed theory with practice - each powerfully illustrated with case material. These steps initially address the therapistâs attunement to the partners' disparate subjectivities including the critical importance of each one's perspective on the reality they co-habit. Their perspectives are fleshed out through the exploration of their developmental histories with focus on factors of gender and culture and more. Out of this arises the examination of how conflictual pasts manifest in dissociated self-states the illumination of which lends to the enrichment of self-actualization the facilitation of mutual recognition and the capacity to more genuinely renegotiate their relationship. The book concludes with a chapter that illustrates one couple treated through all six steps and a chapter on frequently asked questions (FAQ's) derived from over thirty years of practice teaching supervision and presentations during the course of this books development. A Relational Psychoanalytic Approach to Couples Psychotherapy balances a great range of ways to work with couples while also providing the means to authentically negotiate their differences in a way which is insightful and invaluable. This book is for practitioners of couples therapy and psychoanalytic practitioners. It is also aimed at undergraduate graduates and postgraduate students in the fields of psychiatry psychology marriage and family therapy and social work. . Language: English