The intersubjective: A core concept for psychoanalysis^†

^†This is a fully revised version of the paper previously read at the XIth IARPP Conference in Santiago de Chile, November 8, 2013, as a discussion of the plenary “Drives and Fields: Are Drive Theory and Intersubjectivity Really Incompatible?”

Abstract

The history of psychoanalysis has developed along two main routes: metapsychological (drive theory) and relational. So-called “relational psychoanalysis” derives from the convergence of several traditions – interpersonal and sociocultural (Sullivan, Fromm), object relations theory (Fairbairn), self psychology (Hokut), and intersubjective systems theory (Stolorow, Atwood, Orange) – enriched along many decades by a variety of strong contributions from Ferenczi to independent thinkers such as Bion, Winnicott, Bowlby, Pichon Rivière, W. and M. Baranger, J. Sandler, Ogden, and Bollas, among many others. Facing its main controversies in terms of theory, present psychoanalysis evolves between heuristic versus hermeneutic, intrapsychic versus intersubjective, fantasy versus trauma, conflict versus deficit, and drives versus motivational systems. Controversies in technique have also evolved from a neutrality and abstinence model to an optimal provision and frustration model experienced in mutuality but ethically balanced. This paper displays the main concepts of the relational perspective, in which intersubjectivity is both a constitutive frame for human beings and the essential way for change. Developments from infant research and neuroscience – and the deep social and cultural changes facing twenty-first century societies – promote a new scene for today's psychoanalysis in convergence with these relational proposals.

Key words:

• intersubjective systems theory
• relational psychoanalysis
• intersubjectivity

Notes

^† This is a fully revised version of the paper previously read at the XIth IARPP Conference in Santiago de Chile, November 8, 2013, as a discussion of the plenary “Drives and Fields: Are Drive Theory and Intersubjectivity Really Incompatible?”

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Alejandro Ávila

Author

Alejandro Ávila, PhD, is a full professor of psychoanalytic psychotherapy at Complutense University, Madrid. He is a training member and honorary president of the Institute of Relational Psychotherapy, Madrid, as well as a board member of the International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy (IARPP) and chair of IARPP's Spanish chapter.