Relational psychoanalysis and its discontents

This chapter proposes that a self-critical discussion within every psychoanalytic model, exploring its own unique vulnerable aspects, is more fruitful than polemics between competing schools. It points to the danger facing the innovative and valuable relational tradition of becoming yet another theoretical fortress striving for "purity", and overemphasizing its difference from other psychoanalytic traditions rather than seeking valuable contributions from divergent sources. A few clinical examples from the author's own practice are given, portraying some specific risks facing relational clinical work. These include a potentially premature emphasis on intersubjectivity and interaction, clouding the regressive needs of some patients, depriving the need of certain patients for a dependable authority, and disregarding the way patients may experience the analyst's openness and self-disclosures as narcissistic or defensive.