eiseEducation

Contemporary psychoanalysis has, as is well known, taken a relational turn. Where earlier models prized abstinence or a stance of cool neutrality on the part of the analyst, current psychoanalytic thought places the therapeutic bond, complete with its empathic attunements and inevitable tensions, at the very center of clinical work. Robert Stolorow, together with George Atwood, Bernard Brandchaft, Donna Orange, and others, not only introduced the term “intersubjective” into psychoanalysis to capture the relational interplay between these two subjectivities—that of the patient and the analyst—but, in so doing, fundamentally revolutionized the field. 

 In this webinar series we will trace the development of intersubjective systems theory highlighting both similarities and differences from other psychanalytic theories. We will also draw out the clinical applications and benefits of working intersubjectively, delineating how major concepts in psychoanalytic theory (unconscious processes, transference, resistance, conflict, trauma, as well as what constitutes therapeutic action) can be understood from an intersubjective systems perspective, and how they can be applied in clinical practice.