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The paper “Intersubjectivity, Field Theory, and Adrienne Harris's ‘You Must Remember This’” by Donnel B. Stern honours Harris's perceptive and nuanced examination of the complex intersubjectivity that permeates psychotherapy. In his reflection on the article “You Must Remember This” (2009), Stern offers his view of field theory and intersubjectivity (Stern, 2013a, 2013b) as a fundamental and pervasive part of our interpersonal (and I would add, social) lives. Admiration for Adrienne Harris' article and her own genuinely intersubjective attitude, demonstrated by her approach to relating to and engaging others, are interwoven throughout the text.
Stern expands on Harris' view of the mind as a person's own, contained, and distinctive psychological universe that interacts and is entwined with the universes of others. Without awareness, each person gives others distinct roles in the continuous drama they are performing on their own mental stage. Understanding these roles that people have unconsciously assigned to themselves and each other—what psychoanalysis refers to as “transference” and “countertransference”—is a challenge for both parties of the therapeutic couple. By acknowledging these roles, it is hoped that new opportunities for spontaneity, freedom and expression will be created. With heartwarming personal testimony from her childhood, family, and one dream (in the latter it is hard to determine what is hers and what is the patient's and their connections), Harris presents and sues fine psychoanalytic reflections about clinical work impasses with Jeremy, the patient, revealing the tricks of the psyche, time, memories, and the play of intersubjectivity. Stern relates Harris' intersubjectivity to his “field theory”, which is a two-pronged theory (2013a, 2013b), the field theory of what he calls interpersonal/relational psychoanalysis (IRP) and the Bionian field theory (BFT) that comes from South American and European authors, especially the writings of Antonino Fer