4. The Development of the Dyad:
A Bidirectional Revisioning of Some Self Psychological Concepts
Presenters: |
Lynn Preston, MA, MS
|
Chair: |
Kenneth L. Koenig, MD |
Self Psychology Page | 21th Conference
Program
SUMMARY
This paper uses the metaphor of the developing dyad - the evolving analytic partnership - as a lens through which to view psychoanalytic interactive process. We draw on the work of Beebe and Lachmann (1994) which informs our understanding of the interlocking and reciprocally delimiting contributions of self and mutual regulation in a dyadic system. We view the dyadic universe to be co-created and shaped by the intersecting subjectivities of both partners. An expansion in the self regulatory range of either partner alters the shape of their relational universe which then allows for the possibility of new self regulatory experiences for the other partner. In an alive interactive system, there will be pushes from both directions to expand the world inhabited by the dyad in order to make possible the inclusion and reception of more self experience. We suggest that the self psychological metaphor for growth as the accretion of internal structure through selfobject experience can be revisioned to reflect the bidirectional nature of the analytic endeavor. Growth can also be seen as the dyadic development of relational flexibility.
We look at four self psychological concepts which we have found to have profound clinical efficacy: selfobject experience, rupture and repair, optimal responsiveness, and therapeutic impasse. Each is examined through the lens of the metaphor of the developing dyad. For each, we identify, highlight and demonstrate ways in which both patient and analyst are co-creating the interactional field; and contrast a unilateral and bilateral organization of psychoanalytic process.