Relational psychoanalysis : the emergence of a tradition

Since the middle of the 1980s, there has been a vast scene change in American psychoanalysis.

It takes the form of a broad movement away from classical psychoanalytic theorizing grounded in Freud's drive theory, toward models of mind and development based on object relations concepts.

In clinical practice as well there has been a corresponding movement away from the classical principles of neutrality, abstinence and anonymity toward an interactive vision of the analytic situation that places the analytic relationship, with its powerful, reciprocal affective currents, in the foreground.

These developments have been evident in virtually all schools of psychoanalysis in America, from the most traditional to the most radical.The wellspring of these innovations is the work of a group of psychoanalysts who have struggled to integrate aspects of interpersonal psychoanalysis, various British object relations theories and psychoanalytic feminism.

Although not self-selected as a school, these theorists have generated a distinct tradition of psychoanalytic thought and clinical practice that has become extremely influential within psychoanalysis in the United States."Relational Psychoanalysis: The Emergence of a Tradition" brings together the seminal papers of authors within this tradition.

Each paper is accompanied by an introduction in which the editors place it in its historical context, and an afterword in which the author suggests subsequent developments in his or her thinking.

This work is of interest to clinical practitioners, teachers and students of psychoanalysis intent on exploring the developments of recent years.