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Stolorow and Atwood's twenty years of collaboration have led them to what they call the intersubjective approach to psychoanalysis, one of the theories currently competing for the attention of analysts and psychodynamically oriented psychotherapists, which is described in this short, ambitious book The theory is rooted in the subjective bases of the psychological systems of Freud, Jung, Reich, and Rank, and in psychoanalytic self psychology. Readers who have other viewpoints are forewarned.
Intersubjectivity is, in its essence, a sweeping methodological and epistemological stance calling for a radical revision of all aspects of psychoanalytic thought [a] rethinking of the foundational pillars of psychoanalytic theory, including the concept of the unconscious, the relation between mind and body, the concept of trauma, and the understanding of fantasy. [p 4]
The authors' declared mission is to create “a depth psychology of human experience, purified of the mechanistic reifications of Freudian metapsychology” (p. 2, my italics) - in fact a cleansing of the psychoanalytic temple, theory and practice. We learn later who and what is to take over our temple and who is to be driven out. The breadth of the proposed reform is shown by this book's chapter headings: “The Myth of the Isolated Mind”; “Three Realms of the Unconscious”, “The Mind and the Body”, “Trauma and Pathogenesis”; “Fantasy Formation”; “Varieties of Therapeutic Alliance”, and “Varieties of Therapeutic Impasse”
Throughout the book the writing is clear and straightforward - at times it seemed rather too clear the current theoretical and clinical turmoil in psychoanalysis should preclude over-authoritative truth claims for any one approach to our work. Many readers may nevertheless welcome a clear outline of intersubjectivity theory and practice, whatever reservations they may have about the tone of this book