Relational Perspectives
About the Book Series
Series Editor: Steven Kuchuck
Founding Editor:
Stephen Mitchell
Editor Emeritus:
Lewis Aron
Former Editors:
Adrienne Harris
Eyal Rozmarin
The Relational Perspectives Book Series (RPBS) publishes books that grow out of or contribute to the relational tradition in contemporary psychoanalysis. Jay Greenberg and Stephen Mitchell first coined the term relational psychoanalysis as a way of identifying a common theme among an otherwise diverse group of theories that had never before been considered connected in any way. Each of these schools—primarily; interpersonal psychoanalysis, British object relations theory, and self-psychology, emphasized a person’s embeddedness in the social context rather than the isolated individual with drives pressing for discharge as the main unit of study (Greenberg & Mitchell, 1983).
Following his work with Greenberg, Mitchell (1988) began using the term relational psychoanalysis to also refer to a newly developing perspective that arose from a melding of British Object Relations theory with Interpersonal psychoanalysis, feminist, queer, gender and other social, philosophical, political, cross-cultural and attachment theories as well as empirical infancy research and elements of contemporary Freudian and Kleinian thought. In more recent years, aspects of Field theory and Intersubjective Systems theory, as well as understanding of oppression, economics, race and other systemic issues have also become integrated into this tradition, which understands relational configurations between self and others, both real and fantasied, as the primary subject of psychoanalytic investigation. This new and expanded perspective is sometimes referred to as "big R" Relational psychoanalysis in order to distinguish it from Mitchell’s original use of the term relational as an umbrella term for already existing theories (Kuchuck, 2021).
Originally, we referred to the Relational tradition, turn, or perspective rather than to a Relational school, to highlight that we were identifying a general trend or tendency within contemporary psychoanalysis, not a more formally organized or coherent system of beliefs. And given the centrality of the concept of analyst as subject and eschewing of positivism in Relational thinking, we recognize that no two Relationalists think or practice in exactly the same way. Still, while debated, Relational psychoanalysis (as differentiated from Greenberg and Mitchell’s initial use of the term), has arrived at a moment in time when some believe we can now rightly think of it as a proper theoretical orientation.
Now under the editorial supervision of Steven Kuchuck, the Relational Perspectives Book Series originated in 1990 through the efforts of the late Stephen A. Mitchell. Mitchell was not only the first, but also the most prolific and influential of the originators of the Relational tradition. Committed to dialogue among psychoanalysts, he abhorred the authoritarianism that dictated adherence to a rigid set of beliefs or technical restrictions. He championed open discussion, comparative and integrative approaches, and promoted new voices across the generations. Mitchell was later joined by the late Lewis Aron, also a visionary and influential writer, teacher and major thinker in Relational psychoanalysis. Leading Relational scholars Adrienne Harris, Steven Kuchuck and Eyal Rozmarin eventually partnered with Aron as series editors.
Included in the Relational Perspectives Book Series are authors that come from within the relational/Relational traditions, those that extend and develop that scholarship, and works that critique these approaches or compare and contrast them with alternative points of view. The series includes our most distinguished senior psychoanalysts, along with younger contributors who bring fresh vision. Our aim is to enable a deepening of thinking about theory and technique while reaching across disciplinary and social boundaries in order to foster an inclusive and international literature.
Works Cited
Greenberg, J.R. and Mitchell, S.A. (1983). Object Relations in Psychoanalytic Theory. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Kuchuck, S. (2021). The Relational Revolution in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. London: Karnac Books.
Mitchell, S.A. (1988). Relational Concepts in Psychoanalysis: An Integration. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Cyclical Psychodynamics and the Contextual Self: The Inner World, the Intimate World, and the World of Culture and Society
1st Edition
By Paul L. Wachtel
April 17, 2014
Cyclical Psychodynamics and the Contextual Self articulates in new ways the essential features and most recent extensions of Paul Wachtel's powerfully integrative theory of cyclical psychodynamics. Wachtel is widely regarded as the leading advocate for integrative thinking in personality theory and...
A Relational Psychoanalytic Approach to Couples Psychotherapy
1st Edition
By Philip A. Ringstrom
March 12, 2014
Winner of the 2014 Goethe Award for Psychoanalytic and Psychodynamic Scholarship! A Relational Psychoanalytic Approach to Couples Psychotherapy presents an original model of couples treatment integrating ideas from a host of authors in relational psychoanalysis. It also includes other ...
The Embodied Analyst: From Freud and Reich to relationality
1st Edition
By Jon Sletvold
January 17, 2014
2015 Gradiva Award Winner The Embodied Analyst brings together the history of embodied analysis found in the work of Freud and Reich and contemporary relational analysis, particularly as influenced by infant research. By integrating the ‘old’ embodied and the ‘new’ relational traditions, the book ...
The Origins of Attachment: Infant Research and Adult Treatment
1st Edition
By Beatrice Beebe, Frank M. Lachmann
November 19, 2013
The Origins of Attachment: Infant Research and Adult Treatment addresses the origins of attachment in mother-infant face-to-face communication. New patterns of relational disturbance in infancy are described. These aspects of communication are out of conscious awareness. They provide clinicians ...
Clinical Implications of the Psychoanalyst's Life Experience: When the Personal Becomes Professional
1st Edition
Edited
By Steven Kuchuck
November 04, 2013
2015 Gradiva Award Winner Clinical Implications of the Psychoanalyst’s Life Experience explores how leaders in the fields of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy address the phenomena of the psychoanalyst’s personal life and psychology. In this edited book, each author describes pivotal childhood and ...
The Play Within the Play: The Enacted Dimension of Psychoanalytic Process
1st Edition
By Gil Katz
July 16, 2013
In The Play within the Play: The Enacted Dimension of Psychoanalytic Process Gil Katz presents and illustrates the "enacted dimension of psychoanalytic process." He clarifies that enactment is not simply an overt event but an unconscious, continuously evolving, dynamically meaningful process. ...
A Psychotherapy for the People: Toward a Progressive Psychoanalysis
1st Edition
By Lewis Aron, Karen E. Starr
December 03, 2012
How did psychoanalysis come to define itself as being different from psychotherapy? How have racism, homophobia, misogyny and anti-Semitism converged in the creation of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis? Is psychoanalysis psychotherapy? Is psychoanalysis a "Jewish science"? Inspired by the ...
The Silent Past and the Invisible Present: Memory, Trauma, and Representation in Psychotherapy
1st Edition
By Paul Renn
January 20, 2012
Drawing on research in the fields of cognitive and developmental psychology, attachment, trauma, and neuroscience, as well as 20 years in forensic and private practice, Paul Renn deftly illustrates the ways in which this research may be used to inform an integrated empirical/hermeneutic model ...
Individualizing Gender and Sexuality: Theory and Practice
1st Edition
By Nancy J. Chodorow
October 04, 2011
Nancy Chodorow, in her groundbreaking book The Reproduction of Mothering, quite simply changed the conversation in at least three areas of study: psychoanalysis, women's studies, and sociology. In her latest book, Individualizing Gender and Sexuality, she examines the complexity and ...
Relational Psychoanalysis, Volume 4: Expansion of Theory
1st Edition
Edited
By Lewis Aron, Adrienne Harris
September 02, 2011
Building on the success and importance of three previous volumes, Relational Psychoanalysis continues to expand and develop the relational turn. Under the keen editorship of Lewis Aron and Adrienne Harris, and comprised of the contributions of many of the leading voices in the relational world, ...
Relational Psychoanalysis, Volume 5: Evolution of Process
1st Edition
Edited
By Lewis Aron, Adrienne Harris
September 02, 2011
Building on the success and importance of three previous volumes, Relational Psychoanalysis continues to expand and develop the relational turn. Under the keen editorship of Lewis Aron and Adrienne Harris, and comprised of the contributions of many of the leading voices in the relational world, ...
Understanding and Treating Dissociative Identity Disorder: A Relational Approach
1st Edition
By Elizabeth F. Howell
April 21, 2011
Building on the comprehensive theoretical model of dissociation elegantly developed in The Dissociative Mind, Elizabeth Howell makes another invaluable contribution to the clinical understanding of dissociative states with Understanding and Treating Dissociative Identity Disorder. ...