ABSTRACT

In this time of vulnerable marriages and partnerships, many couples seek help for their relationships. Psychoanalytic couple therapy is a growing application of psychoanalysis for which training is not usually offered in most psychoanalytic and analytic psychotherapy programs. This book is both an advanced text for therapists and a primer for new students of couple psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Its twenty-eight chapters cover the major ideas underlying the application of psychoanalysis to couple therapy, many clinical illustrations of cases and problems in various dimensions of the work. The international group of authors comes from the International Psychotherapy Institute based in Washington, DC, and the Tavistock Centre for Couple Relationships (TCCR) in London. The result is a richly international perspective that nonetheless has theoretical and clinical coherence because of the shared vision of the authors.

part I|122 pages

Fundamental Principles of Psychoanalytic Couple Therapy

chapter One|22 pages

An overview of psychodynamic couple therapy

ByDavid E. Scharff, Jill Savege Scharff

chapter Two|10 pages

Shared unconscious phantasy in couples

ByDavid Hewison

chapter Three|9 pages

Intimacy and the couple—the long and winding road

BySusanna Abse

chapter Four|15 pages

Attachment, affect regulation, and couple psychotherapy

ByChristopher Clulow

chapter Five|12 pages

Aggression in couples: an object relations primer

ByDavid E. Scharff

chapter Seven|10 pages

Responding to the clinical needs of same-sex couples

ByDamian McCann

chapter Eight|10 pages

The selfdyad in the dynamic organisation of the couple

ByRichard M. Zeitner

chapter Nine|15 pages

Dreams in analytic couple therapy

ByJill Savege Scharff, David E. Scharff

part II|90 pages

Assessment And Treatment

chapter Twelve|17 pages

Establishing a therapeutic relationship in analytic couple therapy

ByJill Savege Scharff

chapter Thirteen|10 pages

The triangular field of couple containment

ByCarl Bagnini

chapter Fourteen|12 pages

Projection, introjection, intrusive identification, adhesive identification

ByDavid Hewison

chapter Fifteen|9 pages

Negotiating individual and joint transferences in couple therapy

ByJames L. Poulton

chapter Sixteen|10 pages

Narcissism in a couple with a cocaine-addicted partner

ByCarl Bagnini

chapter Seventeen|11 pages

The dream space in analytic couple therapy

ByTamar Kichli Borochovsky

chapter Eighteen|12 pages

Clinical narrative and discussion: a couple who lost joy

ByPierre Cachia, Jill Savege Scharff

part III|53 pages

Understanding and Treating Sexual Issues

chapter Nineteen|13 pages

How development structures sexual relationships

ByDavid E. Scharff

chapter Twenty|9 pages

Assessing the sexual relationship

ByJane Seymour

chapter Twenty-One|9 pages

Addressing sexual issues in couple therapy

ByNorma Caruso

chapter Twenty-Two|8 pages

Unconscious meanings and consequences of abortion in the life of couples

ByYolanda de Varela

chapter Twenty-Three|12 pages

Working with affairs

ByDavid E. Scharff

part IV|68 pages

Special Topics

chapter Twenty-Four|10 pages

The couple as parents: the role of children in couple treatment

ByJanine Wanlass

chapter Twenty-Five|16 pages

Divorce and parenting wars

ByKate Scharff

chapter Twenty-Six|8 pages

Trauma in the Couple

ByJill Savege Scharff

chapter Twenty-Nine|12 pages

The Ending of Couple Therapy with a Couple Who Recovered Joy

ByPierre Cachia, Jill Savege Scharff

chapter |2 pages

Epilogue

Edited ByDavid E. Scharff, Jill Savege Scharff, David Hewison, Christel Buss-Twachtmann, Janine Wanlass