Introduction

A special issue focused entirely on psychoanalytic couple therapy is particularly fitting for a journal dedicated to the psychoanalytic study of people and their contexts. Contemporary psychoanalytic theories view the psyche as inextricably embedded in relational contexts, including our intimate relationships. As the eleven papers in this issue convincingly demonstrate, couple therapy offers opportunities for deep psychological change and healing in both partners as well as in the relationship between them. We believe that psychoanalysis has too long been seen as occurring only between one therapist and one patient, with insufficient recognition of couple therapy as a primary, powerful form of analytic treatment in its own right. We hope this special issue contributes to continued change in this perception and enhanced recognition of the curative power of psychoanalytic conjoint work.

The project of couple therapy is complex and often daunting. Paying attention to each partner’s subjective experience, their personal histories and the moment-to-moment process in the room, including our own countertransference, is a lot to juggle. We hope the papers in this issue will offer practical help in this endeavor, particularly with regard to work with couples who present with difficult or traumatic personal histories. The papers blend intersubjective, empathic and systemic perspectives with behavioral, psychoeducational, and attachment-based interventions to yield exciting and, we think, forward-looking examples of psychoanalytic thinking.

We are pleased that the authors include a range of voices, from those who have previously written extensively on couple therapy (Leone, MacIntosh, Nielsen, and Shaddock), to those whose paper here is their first or one of their first publications (Dehganpour, Edwards, Isaacson, Prowe and Winitsky), to one who has published extensively on individual therapy and psychoanalysis but here contributes his first paper applying his ideas to couple th