Interpersonal psychoanalysis

Part of a series of articles on Psychoanalysis

Concepts Psychosexual development Psychosocial development Conscious • Preconscious • Unconscious Psychic apparatus Id, ego, and super-ego Libido • Drive Transference Countertransference Ego defenses • Resistance Projection • Denial Important figures Alfred Adler • Michael Balint Wilfred Bion • Nancy Chodorow Erik Erikson • Ronald Fairbairn Sándor Ferenczi Anna Freud • Sigmund Freud Erich Fromm • Harry Guntrip Karen Horney Ernest Jones • Carl Jung Melanie Klein • Heinz Kohut Jacques Lacan Margaret Mahler • Otto Rank Wilhelm Reich Harry Stack Sullivan Susan Sutherland Isaacs Donald Winnicott Important works The Interpretation of Dreams Beyond the Pleasure Principle Civilization and Its Discontents Schools of thought Self psychology • Lacanian • Object relations Interpersonal • Relational Ego psychology

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Interpersonal psychoanalysis is based on the theories of Harry Stack Sullivan, an American psychiatrist, who believed that the details of a patient's interpersonal interactions with others can provide insight into the causes and cures of mental disorder.^[1][2]

Sullivan proposed that patients could keep certain aspects or components of their interpersonal relationships out of their awareness by a psychological behavior described as selective inattention. He emphasized that psychotherapists' analyses should focus on patients' relationships and personal interactions to obtain knowledge of affecting patterns and tendencies. Such analyses would consist of detailed questioning regarding moment-to-moment personal interactions, even including those with the analyst himself.

Literature:

Curtis, R. C. & Hirsch, I. (2003). Relational Approaches to Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. In Gurman, A. G. & Messer, S. B. Essential Psychotherapies. NY: Guilford.

Curtis, R. C. (2008). Desire, Self, Mind & the Psychotherapies. Unifying Psychological Science and Psychoanalysis. Lanham, MD & New York: Jason Aronson.

See also

• Interpersonal psychotherapy
• Family therapy
• Relationship counseling
• Transactional analysis

References

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