Working with the Individual’s Attachment Style in Self Psychological/Intersubjective Couples Work - In this article Shelley Doctors presents an effective synthesis of three different theoretical contributions in the contemporary psychoanalytic field: Self Psychology, Intersubjective Perspective, Attachment Theory and the effects resulting from similar combination about Psychoanalytic Couples Treatment. In her paper, Doctors summarizes and redefines, compares and differentiates the basic concepts of the different theories with particular reference to organizing principles, to internal working models, narrative themes and to Bowlby’s Attachment Theory. The paper states and demonstrates through a clinical vignette, how recognizing the internal working models aids the couples treatment based on Self Psychological/intersubjective theory. According to Doctors "the psychological organization emerging from the negotiation of attachment needs can be a ‘royal road’ for the intersubjective understanding".
Keywords: Organizing Principles - Internal Working Models - Attachment Theory