The concept of self for many psychotherapists has alluring appeal that conceals a haunting paradox. Self-Relations in the Psychotherapy Process examines the root of this paradox: How can therapy that is predicated on the notion of the self as firmly bound and highly individuated succeed when this concept is being challenged by the postmodern view of the self as much more fluid and complex? If we accept that the self is an ever-changing social and historical construction, how do we alter our approach to understanding disorder and change?
In this ground-breaking volume, prominent scholars examine the major tenets of postmodernism and apply them to the process of psychotherapy practice. Clinicians from a variety of orientations, including psychoanalytic, humanistic, and cognitive-behavioral, scrutinize such concepts as multiplicity, social constructionism, intersubjectivity, deconstruction, and contextualism in light of the day-to-day challenges that must be resolved by therapists. The contributors also converse through commentary. The result is a lively dialogue and a provocative example of how theory continues to shape and enrich the practice of psychotherapy.
Table of Contents
Contributors
Preface
Acknowledgments
An Introduction: Contemporary Constructions and Contexts
—J. Christopher Muran
Towards a Theory of the Self
—Sheldon Bach
Comment: Self-Observation and Subjective Self-Experiences
— Mardi J. Horowitz
Configurational Analysis of the Self: A States of Mind Approach
—Mardi J. Horowitz
Comment: Researchable States of Mind
— Sheldon Bach
The Self as a Singular Multiplicity: A Process–Experiential Perspective
—William Whelton and Leslie Greenberg
Comment: E Pluribus Unum
— Stuart Pitzer
The Capacity to Tolerate Paradox: Bridging Multiplicity Within the Self
—Stuart Pitzer
Comment: Dialectional Synthesis Rather Than a Paradox
— Leslie S. Greenberg and William J. Whelton
Intersubjectivity in the Analytic Situation
—Lewis Aron
Comment: Subjects and Objects
— Jeremy D. Safran
The Therapeutic Alliance as a Process of Intersubjective Negotiation
—Jeremy D. Safran and J. Christopher Muran
Comment: The Therapeutic Alliance, the Dyad, and the Relational Triad
— Lewis Aron
Understanding and Treating the Postmodern Self
—Stanley Messer and C. Seth Warren
Comment: A Tale of the Three Selves
— Muriel Dimen
Deconstructing Difference: Gender, Splitting, and Transitional Space
—Muriel Dimen
Comment: Self, Gender, and the Transitional Space
— C. Seth Warren and Stanley Messer
The Cognitive Self in Basic Science, Psychopathology, and Psychotherapy
—Timothy Strauman and Zindel Segal
Comment: Comparing and Contrasting the Cognitive and Interpersonal Selves
— William P. Henry
Defining the Self in an Interpersonal Context
—William P. Henry
Comment: What's Interpersonal Is Cognitive and What's Cognitive Is Interpersonal
— Timothy Strauman and Zindel Segal
Functional Contextualism and the Self
—Steven Hayes and Jennifer Gregg
Comment: Contextualizing "Functional Contextualism and the Self"
— Barry Protter
Knowing the Self in Psychotherapy: Towards a Postmodern Integrative Approach
—Barry Protter
Comment: Postmodernism and the Goals of Scientific Analysis
— Steven Hayes and Jennifer Gregg
On a Final Note: Meditations on "Both/And"
—J. Christopher Muran
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