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In this slim volume Joseph Lichtenberg joins his close colleagues Frank Lachmann and James Fosshage in revising his landmark (1989) book Psychoanalysis and Motivational Systems in several new directions. The authors respond to critiques made within the past
20 years and incorporate some of the arguments they find more convincing. They also incorporate newer ideas that have emerged during this period. They update dynamic systems theory and use newer versions of dynamic systems and complexity theory to help the development of an organizational model of the mind. A dynamic systems perspective allows us to view each person as an open system that is self organizing in interaction with others, while being composed of multiple subsystems. Some of the essential properties of this model of the mind are its capacity to recognize, store, access and transmit information. Developmental processes, as well as the process of change in psychotherapy have nonlinear effects with emergent properties. That is, phases of development or treatment do not generally follow a simple linear path. When tipping points are reached in development or treatment (for instance, during episodes of ruptures and repairs) changes that follow can develop emergent transformative qualities—for better or for worse. According to the authors all these concepts serve as a contemporary meta-theory for psychoanalysis.
The authors make another interesting use of complexity theory. In chapter four they use the concept of fractals as a way to explain by analogy how multiple mental states can coexist amidst a sense of self sameness and unity. Authors such as Philip Bromberg (2009) and Donnel Stern (1997) argue that discontinuous self states are the norm, and that our sense of unity is an illusion. On the other hand, research using sophisticated instruments such as the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), demonstrate that the ability to create a coherent narrative that incorporates the memory of positive and negative exp