PROLOGUE

Comparative psychoanalysis is at its best when a senior, respected psychoanalyst presents detailed case material and it is discussed by senior, equally respected psychoanalysts from different perspectives. Detailed case material, including process notes of the patient/analyst communicative exchange, enables discussants and readers to enter into, to get “a feel for,” and to meaningfully address from their perspectives the intersubjective interplay. In a series of such comparative psychoanalytic explorations, Psychoanalytic Inquiry has presented clinical material from a classical perspective (1987, vol. 7, no. 4), a self-psychological perspective (1990, vol. 10, no. 4), an object relations perspective (2001, vol. 21, no. 4), and a case study of power and eroticized transference/countertransference (2005, vol. 25, no. 3). The last two issues were first presented at annual conferences of the Association for Autonomous Psychoanalytic Institutes (AAPI).

This issue is the fifth publication in this series and was first presented at an AAPI annual conference in New York City in October 2003. We are very fortunate to have an outstanding roster of noted psychoanalysts for this exploration of clinical material presented from a neo-Kleinian perspective. Our presenter, Anne Alvarez, is a well-known neo-Kleinian from London who has graciously offered the clinical material. Five noted psychoanalysts form our group of discussants: Sander Abend, Virginia Demos, Stuart Pizer, Adrienne Harris, and Joseph Lichtenberg. Their expertise will cover contemporary conflict, developmental/affect, relational, and self-psychological perspectives. Each discussant formulates his or her understanding of the clinical material and from this perspective evaluates and delineates the process of change. Anne Alvarez then replies to the discussants. In our Epilogue we attempt to point out some of the common ground among these authors as well as to highlight some of the major differences.