The Self-as-Relational in Psychoanalysis: I. Relational Aspects of the Self

These papers complement the psychoanalytic concept of the self—conceived as supraordinate, structural, and relatively autonomous—with an appropriate relational capacity and perspective. The personal and autonomous self is not understood as isolated or devoid of human connection, but rather as involved in complex relationships and relational influences from the beginning of life and continuing to be so engaged throughout the life cycle. Within the analytic relation, the self is variously imbricated in relating to the analytic other and remains open to a variety of interpersonal influences stemming from that other. Prevailing revisions of the analytic process in relational terms give priority to relational aspects, traced in developmental theory, the psychoanalytic relation, and questions related to gender specificity, and dispense with the personal and autonomous self as illusory or unnecessary. The role of the self as autonomously constituted and vitally, if secondarily, engaged in relations with objects is defended, and reasons why a view of the self as inherently relational cannot satisfy the requirements of analytic

interaction proposed. Further questions regarding intersubjectivity and the two-person context of analytic interaction are taken up in a companion paper.