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 inter ...
" 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 (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 vario ...
" (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 mode ...
is commonly considered the pioneer of the relational and intersubjective approaches. Following him, significant contributors include
Stephen A. Mitchell,
Jessica Benjamin
Jessica Benjamin is a psychoanalyst known for her contributions to psychoanalysis and social thought. She is currently a practicing psychoanalyst in New York City where she is on the faculty of the New York University Postdoctoral Psychology Prog ...
, Bernard Brandchaft, James Fosshage, Donna M.Orange, Arnold Modell, Thomas Ogden, Owen Renik,
Harold Searles, Colwyn Trewarthen, Edgar A. Levenson, J. R. Greenberg,
Edward R. Ritvo,
Beatrice Beebe, Frank M. Lachmann,
Herbert Rosenfeld 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
Silvia Montefoschi (1926 – 2011) was an Italian Jungian psychoanalyst.
Montefoschi was born in Rome. She started studying psychoanalysis after the degree in medicine and in biology. She was a student of Ernst Bernhard, (in turn student of J ...
(1977), "Interdipendenza e Intersoggettività in Psicoanalisi" ("Interdipendence and Intersubjectivity in Psychoanalysis")
Psychoanalytic schools