Relational Psychoanalysis
Contemporary relational psychoanalysis is a unique process that simultaneously decreases your vulnerability to those “Stuck” parts that continue to influence you in your feelings and relationships because of past bad experiences. At the same time, contemporary relational psychoanalysis expands your capacity to relate freely and connect freely to others, while also being able to preserve your own good sense of yourself. This is what we call expanding the relational mind.
The practice of relational psychoanalysis adheres to the following principles:
- It is important for a person to maintain fulfilling and satisfying relationships with those around them in order to maintain emotional health.
- Stress and emotional upheaval are often the result of past relational experiences, and these concerns may inhibit the present self from full expression.
- The therapist administering relational psychotherapy provides an atmosphere of empathy and attentiveness in order to elicit full disclosure of the experiences and events affecting the person seeking treatment, as well as the effects they have had both relationally and socially.
- The therapist and the person in therapy work together to forge a strong, collaborative, and secure relationship that can serve as a model for future relationships the person wishes to develop. Other relationships can be measured against this supportive one to determine if they are constructive or destructive.