Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

There are more psychoanalytic theories today than anyone knows what to do with, and the heterogeneity and complexity of the entire body of psychoanalytic though have become staggering. In Relational Concepts in Psychoanalysis , Stephen A. Mitchell weaves strands from the principal relational-model traditions (interpersonal psychoanalysis, British school object-relations theories, self psychology, and existential psychoanalysis) into a comprehensive approach to many of the knottiest problems and controversies in theoretical and clinical psychoanalysis.

Mitchell's earlier book, Object Relations in Psychoanalytic Theory , co-authored with Jay Greenberg, set the stage for this current integration by providing a broad comparative analysis of important thinking on the nature of human relationships. In that classic study Greenberg and Mitchell distinguished between two basic paradigms: the drive model, in which relations with others are generated and shaped by the need for drive gratifications, and various relational models, in which relations themselves are taken as primary and irreducible. In Relational Concepts in Psychoanalysis , Mitchell argues that the drive model has since outlived its usefulness. The relational model, on the other hand, has been developed piecemeal by different authors who rarely acknowledge and explore the commonality of their assumptions or the rich complementarity of their perspectives.

In this bold effort at integrative theorizing, Mitchell draws together major lines of relational-model traditions into a unified framework for psychoanalytic thought, more economical than the anachronistic drive model and more inclusive than any of the singular relational approaches to the core significance of sexuality, the impact of early experience, the relation of the past to the present, the interpenetration of illusion and actuality, the centrality of the will, the repetition of painful experience, the nature of analytic situation, and the process of analytic change. As such, his book will be required reading for psychoanalytic scholars, practitioners, candidates in psychoanalysis, and students in the field.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Introduction
• Part 1 Boundaries
• 1 The Relational Matrix
• 2 ""Drive"" and The Relational Matrix
• Part 2 Sexuality
• 3 Drive Theory and The Metaphor of The Beast
• 4 Sex without Drive (Theory)
• Part 3 Infantilism
• 5 The Metaphor of The Baby
• 6 Clinical Implications of The Developmental Tilt
• Part 4 Narcissism
• 7 The Wings of Icarus
• 8 A Delicate Balance: The Clinical Play of Illusion
• Part 5 Continuity and Change
• 9 The Problem of The Will
• 10 Penelope's Loom: Psychopathology and The Analyti

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

A well-written, incisive, and very intelligent effort at integrating compatible aspects of the many neo-Freudian psychoanalytic theorists e.g., Sullivan, Klein, Winnicott, Loewald, Schafer, Kohut, Kernberg, Gedo, and Pine. Mitchell examines and characterizes their major ideas, assesses how they differ, and evaluates how they overlap. Importantly, he shows how far modern analytic theory has departed from Freud's original instinctual drive theory. In Mitchell's view, the latter has been displaced and surpassed by theories emanating from a relational model. Curiously, the contributions of the French are missing from this closely argued text. Mitchell previously authored Object Relations in Psychoanalytic Theory (1983), and thrives on theorizing. His work is a contemporary beacon in the tumultuous seas of psychological thought since Freud. Essential reading for all levels. -R. H. Balsam, Yale University

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Stephen Mitchell was born in Brooklyn in 1943 and studied at Amherst College, the University of Paris, and Yale University. Considered one of the preeminent translators of his generation, he has translated many classic texts, including Gilgamesh , The Bhagavad Gita , Tao Te Ching , and The Book of Job . For more information, visit stephenmitchellbooks.com.