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In this special issue on couple psychoanalysis, seven well-known writers within the psychoanalytic literature are brought together to comment on a systematic review of journal articles published over the past fifty years on the topic of couple psychoanalysis. This systematic review provides an overview of writing in journals relating to couple psychoanalysis and delineates the major ideas put forth by authors representing four primary theoretical schools, Classical, Object Relations, Self Psychology and Intersubjectivity, and Relational.
Contributors were chosen based on a primary identification with a theoretical school, having made a significant contribution to the literature and to education within their area. All seven authors, representing the four primary theoretical orientations, agreed readily to collaborating on this issue and set about their task. The task included two primary objectives. The first objective was that authors were requested to read the systematic review of couple psychoanalysis articles and to reflect, from within their own perspective, on the findings. The second objective was to bring their own history, knowledge and expertise to bear on an expansion of our understanding of couple psychoanalysis from within their own theoretical frame. It was suggested that authors might provide further historical background, to share foundational readings that might not have been included in the review due to not fitting into the inclusion criteria, and to reflect on their impressions about the evolution of the field over their careers.
Within this issue, our seven writers, each responding from within their own tradition, have provided rich and nuanced commentary on the findings of this systematic review, as well as expanding upon these findings by providing a detailed discussion of theoretical advances within the theoretical school from which they are responding. Sarah Fels Usher (Classical Psychoanalysis, Canada) notes, “To my knowledge, there are no ana