Self and Motivational Systems Towards A Theory of Psychoanalytic Technique [Paperback]

In this sequel to Lichtenberg's Psychoanalysis and Motivation(TAP, 1989), the authors show how their revised theory of motivation provides the foundation for a new approach to psychoanalytic technique.  The approach in Self and Motivational Systemsemphasizes a finely honed sensitivity to moment-to-moment analytic exchanges and an appreciation of which motivational system is dominant during that exchange. Throughout, the authors stress the creative power of psychoanalysis as a joint effort shaped by the intersubjective context of a particular analysand communicating and interacting with a particular analyst. At the heart of the analytic relationship is the analysand's expectation of evoking a vitalizing selfobject experience from the analyst and the analyst's expectation, in turn, of evoking a selfobject experience of efficacy from his or her work with the analysand.Motivational Systems and Other Basics. Model Scenes: Implications for Psychoanalytic Treatment. Model Scenes and the Search for Clinical Truth. Human Development and Organizing Principles. Unconscious Mentation. The Path to Awareness. The Interpretive Sequence. The Selfobject Experience. Defense, Conflict, and Abuse. Values and Morality. Toward a Theory of Technique.

Joseph D. Lichtenberg, M.D., is Editor-in-Chief of Psychoanaytic Inquiry,Director Emeritus of the Institute of Contemporary Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis, and past President of the International Council for Psychoanalytic Self Psychology.  He has authored and edited numerous books and articles, including Craft and Spirit: A Guide to the Exploratory Psychotherapies (Analytic Press, 2005) and, with Frank Lachmann and James Fosshage,  A Sprit of Inquiry: Communication in Psychoanalysis (Analytic Press, 2002).

Frank M. Lachmann, Ph.D., is a founding faculty member of the Institute for the Psychl“…