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Read together these two books provide an excellent opportunity to catch up with the changing landscape of psychoanalytic theory. The authors/editors of each summarize attachment theory and related empirical research, and then place it alongside intersubjective approaches and, most importantly, illustrate its use in psychoanalytic practice.
The magnitude of recent changes in psychoanalytic thinking is not easily exaggerated. Peter Fonagy states that, ‘Only in the last decade and a half, as the psychoanalytic mainstream appeared to almost have evaporated in the United States, have the contributions of the interpersonalist tradition come to be acknowledged’ (Fonagy 2001, p. 125). Although both these volumes address issues relevant to these developments, they differ widely in their structure and their objectives.
Attachment and Intersubjectivity is a co-authored text that offers a clear and careful argument for the place of attachment theory as an intersubjective model within the psychoanalytic cannon. Diamond and Marrone acknowledge that the proportion of psychoanalysts who appreciate Bowlby's contribution is still small but argue that it is increasing. Nicola Diamond is Director of the PhD Programme at the School of Psychotherapy and Counselling, Regent's College, London, and she also teaches for the Open University. The clarity of her exposition may reflect her experience as a teacher. Mario Marrone, author/editor of both books, is a practising psychoanalyst and group analyst.
Attachment Theory and the Psychoanalytic Process is an edited volume which demonstrates that clinicians in Britain, Europe, the United States and Latin America are beginning to use attachment theory and related empirical research creatively to examine clinical issues. Its co-editor, Mauricio Cortina, is Director of the Attachment and Human Development Center at the Institute of Contemporary Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis in Washington, DC, and Psychoanalytic Member of the Instituto de Sociopsico