The relational unconscious in couples psychotherapy: its development, organization, in-fluence and amenability to dramatic transformation

Journal title INTERAZIONI
Author/s Philip A. Ringstrom
Publishing Year 2019 Issue 2019/2
Language Italian Pages 22 P. 81-102 File size 219 KB
DOI 10.3280/INT2019-002006
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This article explores the manifestation of the "relational unconscious" as a co-constructed, emergent amalgam of the unconscious’ of analytic participants in the field of any ongoing psychotherapy, whether composed of two, three, or more participants in the field. The phe-nomenon is illustrated in the psychotherapy of a couple, Jay and Kim, revealing the influences of their unconscious minds, and the therapist’s, upon one another’s. The analogy of the field as a dramatic "stage" helps capture how the therapeutic drama evolves, creating themes of dramatic repetition, in relationship to spontaneous moments of improvisation which lend to unpredictably altering the fixed premises of their respective narratives.

Keywords: Relational unconscious, couples psychotherapy, field, dramatic repetition

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Philip A. Ringstrom, L’inconscio relazionale nella psicoterapia di coppia: sviluppo, organizzazione, influenza e propensione alla trasformazione drammatica in "INTERAZIONI" 2/2019, pp 81-102, DOI: 10.3280/INT2019-002006