Unconscious Fantasy versus Unconscious Relatedness

Abstract

Comparing the clinical practice of contemporary Freudian analysts with that of Interpersonal/Relational analysts, I focus on the difference between primary reliance on continuous participation in, and reflection on, mutually constructed, unconscious clinical process (the Interpersonal/Relational view) and primary reliance on the interpretation of unconscious fantasy (the contemporary Freudian view). I demonstrate the Interpersonal/Relational view by presenting a detailed clinical illustration.

• transference
• countertransference
• interpersonal
• relational
• witness
• unconscious fantasy
• unconscious clinical process
• interpretation

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Donnel B. Stern

Donnel B. Stern, Ph.D. is Training and Supervising Analyst and Faculty, William Alanson White Institute; and Faculty and Supervisor, New York University Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis.