Breathing Together: Reply to Harris and Shaw

Abstract

These two very different but complementary discussions address two different “registers” of my thinking in my paper on patients who “live in airless intrapsychic worlds.” Harris is most interested in the meta-theoretical and historical contexts and frames of my theory and clinical approach, viewing my contribution as an example of various broad trends in contemporary relational psychoanalytic thought. Shaw, by contrast, engages with my particular insights and clinical/theoretical framework for understanding and working with patients whose struggles very much resemble and overlap with the struggles of the adult children of “traumatically narcissistic” parents, which his seminal work has focused on. In my Replies I voice my appreciation of each of their unique perspectives on my ideas, and engage with each of them regarding certain differences in our theoretical and clinical sensibilities.

Notes

¹ See also Tolstoy (1875-1877/2004), first sentence: “All happy families resemble one another, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way” (p. 1).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Steven Stern

Steven Stern, Psy.D., is a faculty member of the Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis and Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Maine Medical Center and Tufts University School of Medicine. He is a member of the International Council of the International Association of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology and was Associate Editor of the International Journal of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology until 2015. He has been a frequent contributor to the contemporary psychoanalytic literature, with a particular interest in theoretical integration. His first book, Needed Relationships and Psychoanalytic Healing: A Holistic Relational Perspective on the Therapeutic Process (Routledge) was released in March 2017. Dr. Stern practices in Portland, ME with specializations in psychoanalysis, psychodynamic psychotherapy, couples therapy, and clinical supervision.