The term "
intersubjectivity
In philosophy, psychology, sociology, and anthropology, intersubjectivity is the relation or intersection between people's cognitive perspectives.
Definition
is a term coined by social scientists to refer to a variety of types of human interac ...
" was introduced to
psychoanalysis
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might b ...
by George Atwood and
Robert Stolorow
Robert D. Stolorow (born 1942) is a psychoanalyst and philosopher, known for his works on intersubjectivity
In philosophy, psychology, sociology, and anthropology, intersubjectivity is the relation or intersection between people's cognitive pers ...
(1984), who consider it a "meta-theory" of psychoanalysis. Intersubjective psychoanalysis suggests that all interactions must be considered contextually; interactions between the patient/analyst or child/parent cannot be seen as separate from each other, but rather must be considered always as mutually influencing each other. This philosophical concept dates back to "
German Idealism
German idealism was a philosophical movement that emerged in Germany in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It developed out of the work of Immanuel Kant in the 1780s and 1790s, and was closely linked both with Romanticism and the revolutionary ...
" and phenomenology.
The myth of isolated mind
Trends in intersubjective psychoanalysis have accused traditional or classical psychoanalysis of having described psychic phenomena as "the myth of isolated
mind
The mind is the set of faculties responsible for all mental phenomena. Often the term is also identified with the phenomena themselves. These faculties include thought, imagination, memory, will, and sensation. They are responsible for various m ...
" (i.e. coming from within the patient). Psychoanalyst and philosopher Jon Mills, has criticized this accusation as a misinterpretation of Freudian theory. However, the intersubjective approach emphasizes that psychic phenomena are contextual and an interplay between the analyst and analysand.
[Orange, Atwood & Stolorow (1997). ''Working Intersubjectively''. The Analytic Press: Hillsdale, NJ.]
Key figures
Heinz Kohut
Heinz Kohut (3 May 1913 – 8 October 1981) was an Austrian-born American psychoanalyst best known for his development of self psychology, an influential school of thought within psychodynamic/ psychoanalytic theory which helped transform the mod ...
is commonly considered the pioneer of the relational and intersubjective approaches. Following him, significant contributors include
Stephen A. Mitchell,
Jessica Benjamin, Bernard Brandchaft, James Fosshage, Donna M.Orange, Arnold Modell, Thomas Ogden, Owen Renik,
Harold Searles
Harold Frederic Searles (September 1, 1918 – November 18, 2015) was one of the pioneers of psychiatric medicine specializing in psychoanalytic treatments of schizophrenia. Searles had the reputation of being a therapeutic virtuoso with difficu ...
, Colwyn Trewarthen, Edgar A. Levenson, J. R. Greenberg,
Edward R. Ritvo,
Beatrice Beebe
Beatrice Beebe (born June 8, 1946) is a clinical psychologist known for her research in attachment and early infant-parent communication. Her work helped established the importance of non-verbal communication in early child development. She is ...
, Frank M. Lachmann,
Herbert Rosenfeld
Herbert Alexander Rosenfeld (2 July 1910 – 29 November 1986) was a German-British psychoanalyst.
Rosenfeld made seminal contributions to Kleinian thinking on psychotic and other very ill patients; while his emphasis on the role of the analy ...
and
Daniel Stern.
References
{{Reflist
Bibliography
* Atwood G. E., Stolorow R. D. (1984), ''Structures of Subjectivity: Explorations in Psychoanalytic Phenomenology''
* Jessica Benjamin (1988), ''The Bonds of Love: Psychoanalysis, Feminism and the Problem of Domination''
* Brandchaft, Doctors & Sorter (2010). Toward an Emancipatory Psychoanalysis. Routledge: New York.
* Buirski, P., Haglund, P. (2001). "Making Sense Together: the intersubjective approach to psychotherapy"
* Buirski, P. (2005). "Practicing Intersubjectively"
* Mills, J. (2012). ''Conundrums: A Critique of Contemporary Psychoanalysis.'' New York: Routledge.
* Orange, Atwood & Stolorow (1997). Working Intersubjectively. The Analytic Press: Hillsdale, NJ.
* Stolorow, Brandchaft & Atwood (1987). Psychoanalytic Treatment: An Intersubjective Approach. The Analytic Press:
* Storolow R. D., Atwood G. E. (1992), ''Context of Being: The Intersubjective Foundations of Psychological Life''
* Storolow R. D., Atwood G. E., Brandchaft, B. (1994), ''The Intersubjective Perspective'' Hillsdale, NJ.
* Stolorow R. D., Atwood G. E. Orange D. M. (2002), "Worlds of Experience: Interweaving Philosophical and Clinical Dimensions in Psychoanalysis"
* Stolorow R. D., (2011), "World, Affectivity, Trauma: Heidegger and Post-Cartesian Psychoanalysis (Psychoanalytic Inquiry, Vol. 35)"
*
Silvia Montefoschi (1977), "Interdipendenza e Intersoggettività in Psicoanalisi" ("Interdipendence and Intersubjectivity in Psychoanalysis")
Psychoanalytic schools