Greenberg and Mitchell's Contribution to a Seismic Shift in Psychoanalysis

My first associations when asked to take part in this panel involved some early reactions by colleagues of mine to Object Relations in Psychoanalytic Theory soon after it appeared. The first was a rather dismissive “So what's new in this book?” This question was from a graduate of a traditional institute in New York City who probably hadn't even read most of it. The second association I had was to Susan Knapp, a friend and psychologist who, like Steve Mitchell, died much too early. She said to me “This is an extraordinarily important book that is going to start a revolution.” I guess you could say that the publication of Object Relations was a polarizing event and that Susan was prescient. I will elaborate on these very different points of view in my discussion. I would suggest that, in a sense, both reactions have validity. I'll explain that in a moment.

Let me start by noting how grateful I am to have been asked to be a discussant for this historical tribute to a landmark book and its authors. It has given me reason to revisit what is, first and foremost, an extremely useful in-depth examination and comparison of the history of psychoanalytic ideas. It is humbling and more than a little breathtaking to realize how young Jay and Steve were when they undertook this project. Imagine the chutzpah it took for two fairly recent graduates of the White Institute to tackle the theoretical underpinnings of Freud, Klein, Winnicott, Fairbairn, Guntrip, Kohut, Hartmann, Edith Jacobson, Kernberg, etc. Just from the perspective of scholarship, it is a remarkable achievement. Glen Gabbard (2001), in a reference to how well their critique succeeded,