Bibliographic Details
| Title: |
What's a Good Object to Do? |
| Authors: |
Skolnick, Neil J. |
| Source: |
Psychoanalytic Dialogues. 2006, Vol. 16 Issue 1, p1-27. 27p. |
| Subjects: |
Psychotherapist-patient relations, Object relations, Interpersonal relations, Social psychology, Psychoanalysis, Patient-professional relations |
| Abstract: |
Nearly all relational theorists localize therapeutic change in the relationship between a patient and a therapist, who functions as a creative form of good object. For that reason, the shift to a relational model necessitates the illumination of the clinical uses of an analyst as good object. The author proposes and describes three categories of analyst as good object: (1) dynamic identification, a clinical application derived from Fairbairn's keystone concept of dynamic structure; (2) the acceptance of patients' love, a requisite for treatment that follows Fairbairn's redefinition of libido; and (3) empathic attunement to psychic organization, a subcategory of empathy that considers empathy from a structural viewpoint rather than from its usual reference to affective resonance. Clinical vignettes are used to illustrate the three inclusive, but not comprehensive, forms of good object functioning by the therapist in the clinical situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| Database: |
Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection |
