Decentering Relational Theory

Lewis Aron, Ph.D., ABPP is the director of the New York University Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis. He is the author and editor of numerous articles and books on psychotherapy and psychoanalysis and well known for his study and reading groups around the world. His most recent book, co-authored with Galit Atlas, is the Routledge title Dramatic Dialogue: Contemporary Clinical Practice.Sue Grand, Ph.D., is faculty at the NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis. She is the author of The Reproduction of Evil: A Clinical and Cultural Perspective and The Hero in the Mirror, and has co-edited two books on the trans-generational transmission of trauma. She practices in NYC and in Teaneck, NJ.Joyce Slochower, Ph.D., ABPP is Professor Emerita at Hunter College and Graduate Center, the City University of New York. She is on the faculty of the New York University Postdoctoral Program, the Steven Mitchell Center, the National Training Program of NIP, the Philadelphia Center for Relational Studies, and the Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California in San Francisco. She is the author of the Routledge titles Holding and Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Collisions. Second editions of both books were released in 2014. She is in private practice in New York City, where she sees individuals and couples, and runs supervision and study groups.

• Introduction Lewis Aron, Sue Grand, and Joyce Slochower 1. Trauma as radical inquiry Sue Grand 2. Otherness within psychoanalysis: On recognizing the critics of relational psychoanalysis Donnel B. Stern 3. Reflections and directions: An interview of Jessica Benjamin by Sue Grand Jessica Benjamin and Sue Grand 4. Toward a more fully integrative and contextual relational paradigm Paul Wachtel 5. The pathologizing tilt: Undertones of the death instinct in relational trauma theory Sophia Richman 6. The injurious impact of failed witnessing: Reflections on Richman's "pathologizing tilt" Sam Gerson 7. Don’t throw out the baby! External and internal, attachment and sexuality Galit Atlas 8. Multiplicity and integrity: Does an anti-developmental tilt still exist in relational psychoanalysis? Donna M. Orange 9. Reflections on relational psychoanalysis: A work in progress Anthony Bass & Adrienne Harris 10. Beyond Tolerance in Psychoanalytic Communities: Reflexive Skepticism & Critical Pluralism Lewis Aron

"In Decentering Relational Theory, eminent relationalists converse with other theories. The human condition is complex; healing human suffering often requires multiple perspectives in mutual dialogue. Engaging in this dialogue, these authors ask how the non-relational literature can inform further development of relational theory. These comparisons also illuminate the way Relational theory is linked to its historical roots in non-Relational theory.The essays are excellent in both style and in content. This book should be in the library of anyone interested in psychoanalytic theories and therapies – newcomers and seasoned clinicians alike."-Nancy McWilliams, Ph.D., ABPP, Visiting Full Professor, Rutgers Graduate School of Applied & Professional Psychology