Attachment and Intersubjectivity

This book focuses on the understanding of the epistemological roots of attachment theory, conceptualised as psychoanalytic paradigm, which highlights the movement away from a one person psychology to a multi person psychology. In this context, attachment theory is viewed as a theory of processes, across generations and across the dynamic interaction between the individual and his worlds of others (including parental figures, offspring, the sexual partner, the group and society). This position is congenial with contemporary philosophical and developmental ideas and recent advances in the neurosciences. It is also a contribution to British Independent Psychoanalytic thinking, the so called relational schools of psychoanalysis and group analysis. This book involves: a didactic formulation of the basic principles of attachment theory as a psychoanalytic paradigm; critical discussions of controversial issues in psychoanalysis (such as theories of intersubjectivity, thinking and motivation, the role of the historical reconstruction in psychoanalytic psychotherapy and the relation between attachment and sexuality), viewed from an attachment perspective; and, an exploration of the clinical implications of these concepts. This text will be of interest to individual therapists as well as group analysts, couple therapists, family therapists and academics.