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In discussing Dr. Thomson's “Countertransference in an Intersubjective Perspective,” I will focus on the following: (a) I shall reexamine his clinical examples to see whether or not the intersubjective perspective has optimally safeguarded his empathic listening perspective. (b) Whether or not the intersubjective perspective provided him with a better tool for following the analytic process as opposed to taking the emergence of selfobject transferences into consideration. (c) Finally, I will raise some general clinical-theoretical questions related to intersubjectivity and selfobject transferences.
In his introductory remarks, Dr. Thomson familiarized us with the clinical theory that guided him in his work; the work of Evelyn Schwaber, and the intersubjective approach as articulated by Stolorow, Brandchaft and Atwood (1984, 1987).
“The intersubjective approach,” he says, “is closely related to, and an outgrowth of, self psychology.” As a clinical theory, therefore, the intersubjective approach should be an advance over self psychology; it ought to safeguard the empathic listening perspective more effectively, and it ought to be a better guide in the conduct of psychoanalysis than is the clinical theory of the psychology of the self.
In reviewing Schwaber's work, Dr. Thomson reminds us that