George E. Atwood - Structures of Subjectivity: Explorations in Psychoanalytic Phenomenology and Contextualism

Structures of Subjectivity

Structures of Subjectivity: Explorations in Psychoanalytic Phenomenology and Contextualism is a revised and expanded second edition of a work first published in 1984, which was the first systematic presentation of the intersubjective viewpointwhat George Atwood and Robert Stolorow called psychoanalytic phenomenologyin psychoanalysis. This edition contains new chapters tracing the further development of their thinking over the ensuing decades and explores the personal origins of their most essential ideas.

In this new edition, Atwood and Stolorow cover the philosophical and theoretical assumptions of psychoanalysis and present a broad approach that they have designated phenomenological contextualism. This approach addresses personal subjective worlds in all their richness and idiosyncrasy and focuses on their relational contexts of origin and therapeutic transformation.

Structures of Subjectivity covers the principles guiding the practice of psychoanalytic therapy from the authors viewpoints and includes numerous detailed clinical case studies. The book will be essential reading for psychoanalysts, practitioners of psychotherapy, psychiatrists, psychologists, counselors, and social workers. It will also be of interest to scholars and students with an interest in psychoanalytic theory and practice, and its philosophical premises.

George E. Atwood is Professor of Clinical Psychology (Emeritus), Rutgers University, USA, and Founding Faculty Member, Institute for the Psychoanalytic Study of Subjectivity, New York. He is author of The Abyss of Madness (Routledge, 2011), and coauthor of Psychoanalytic Treatment (Analytic Press, 1987), Contexts of Being (Analytic Press, 1992), Faces in a Cloud (Jason Aronson, 1993), and Working Intersubjectively (Analytic Press, 1997).

Robert D. Stolorow is a Founding Faculty Member, Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis, Los Angeles, and Institute for the Psychoanalytic Study of Subjectivity, New York. He is author of World, Affectivity, Trauma: Heidegger and Post-Cartesian Psychoanalysis (Routledge, 2011) and Trauma and Human Existence: Autobiographical, Psychoanalytic, and Philosophical Reflections (Routledge, 2007), and coauthor of five other books with George Atwood.

PSYCHOANALYTIC INQUIRY BOOK SERIES

JOSEPH D. LICHTENBERG

SERIES EDITOR

Like its counterpart, Psychoanalytic Inquiry: A Topical Journal for Mental Health Professionals, the Psychoanalytic Inquiry Book Series presents a diversity of subjects within a diversity of approaches to those subjects. Under the editorship of Joseph Lichtenberg, in collaboration with Melvin Bornstein and the editorial board of Psychoanalytic Inquiry, the volumes in this series strike a balance between research, theory, and clinical application. We are honored to have published the works of various innovators in psychoanalysis, such as Frank Lachmann, James Fosshage, Robert Stolorow, Donna Orange, Louis Sander, Lon Wurmser, James Grotstein, Joseph Jones, Doris Brothers, Fredric Busch, and Joseph Lichtenberg, among others.

The series includes books and monographs on mainline psychoanalytic topics, such as sexuality, narcissism, trauma, homosexuality, jealousy, envy, and varied aspects of analytic process and technique. In our efforts to broaden the field of analytic interest, the series has incorporated and embraced innovative discoveries in infant research, self psychology, intersubjectivity, motivational systems, affects as process, responses to cancer, borderline states, contextualism, postmodernism, attachment research and theory, medication, and mentalization. As further investigations in psychoanalysis come to fruition, we seek to present them in readable, easily comprehensible writing.

After 25 years, the core vision of this series remains the investigation, analysis, and discussion of developments on the cutting edge of the psychoanalytic field, inspired by a boundless spirit of inquiry.

PSYCHOANALYTIC INQUIRY BOOK SERIES

JOSEPH D. LICHTENBERG

SERIES EDITOR

Vol. 43

Structures of Subjectivity: Explorations in Psychoanalytic Phenomenology and Contextualism, 2nd Edition

George E. Atwood & Robert D. Stolorow

Vol. 42

Psychoanalytic Complexity: Clinical Attitudes for Therapeutic Change

William J. Coburn

Vol. 41

Metaphor and Fields: Common Ground, Common Language and the Future of Psychoanalysis

S. Montana Katz (ed.)

Vol. 40

Growth and Turbulence in the Container/Contained: Bions Continuing Legacy

Howard B. Levine & Lawrence J. Brown (eds.)

Vol. 39

Nothing Good Is Allowed to Stand: An Integrative View of the Negative Therapeutic Reaction

Lon Wurmser & Heidrun Jarass (eds.)

Vol. 38

Self Experiences in Group, Revisited: Affective Attachments, Intersubjective Regulations, and Human Understanding

Irene Harwood, Walter Stone, & Malcolm Pines (eds.)

Vol. 37

The Abyss of Madness

George E. Atwood

Vol. 36

Manual of Panic Focused Psychodynamic Psychotherapy eXtended Range

Fredric N. Busch, Barbara L. Milrod, Meriamne B. Singer, & Andrew C. Aronson

Vol. 35

World, Affectivity, Trauma: Heidegger and Post-Cartesian Psychoanalysis

Robert D. Stolorow

Vol. 34

Change in Psychoanalysis: An Analysts Reflections on the Therapeutic Relationship

Chris Jaenicke

Vol. 33

Psychoanalysis and Motivational Systems: A New Look

Joseph D. Lichtenberg, Frank M. Lachmann, & James L. Fosshage

Vol. 32

Persons in Context: The Challenge of Individuality in Theory and Practice

Roger Frie & William J. Coburn (eds.)

Vol. 31

Toward an Emancipatory Psychoanalysis:

Brandchafts Intersubjective Vision

Bernard Brandchaft, Shelley Doctors, & Dorienne Sorter

Vol. 30

From Psychoanalytic Narrative to Empirical Single Case Research: Implications for Psychoanalytic Practice

Horst Kchele, Joseph Schachter, Helmut Thom & the Ulm Psychoanalytic Process Research Study Group

PSYCHOANALYTIC INQUIRY BOOK SERIES

JOSEPH D. LICHTENBERG

SERIES EDITOR

Vol. 29

Mentalization: Theoretical Considerations, Research Findings, and Clinical Implications

Fredric N. Busch (ed.)

Vol. 28

Transforming Narcissism: Reflections on Empathy, Humor, and Expectations

Frank M. Lachmann

Vol. 27

Toward a Psychology of Uncertainty: Trauma-Centered Psychoanalysis

Doris Brothers

Vol. 26

Living Systems, Evolving Consciousness, and the Emerging Person: A Selection of Papers from the Life Work of Louis Sander

Gherardo Amadei & Ilaria Bianchi (eds.)

Vol. 25

Sensuality and Sexuality across the Divide of Shame

Joseph D. Lichtenberg

Vol. 24

Jealousy and Envy: New Views about Two Powerful Feelings

Lon Wurmser & Heidrun Jarass (eds.)

Vol. 23

Trauma and Human Existence: Autobiographical, Psychoanalytic, and Philosophical Reflections

Robert D. Stolorow

Vol. 22

Psychotherapy and Medication: The Challenge of Integration

Fredric N. Busch & Larry S. Sandberg

Vol. 21

Attachment and Sexuality

Diana Diamond, Sidney J. Blatt, & Joseph D. Lichtenberg (eds.)

Vol. 20