The adaptive design of the human psyche

the long version

Addressing one of the most fundamental issues in any examination of human experience, this important new work connects evolutionary biological concepts to modern psychoanalytic theory and the clinical encounter. Synthesizing their years of experience in the practice of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis, the authors provide a comparative psychoanalytic map of current theoretical controversies and a new way of deconstructing the hidden assumptions that underlie Freudian, Ego Psychological, Kleinian, Object Relational, Self Psychological, and Interpersonal theories. In so doing, they provide a new vantage point from which to integrate competing models into a larger picture that more fully embraces the many facets of human nature. Moreover, they offer clinicians a new framework in which to understand and respond to the inevitable paradoxes and conflicts that arise in the therapeutic relationship. Providing context for the reader, Part I describes central themes in the psychoanalytic debate and introduces evolutionary issues and concepts as they relate to the question of what is primary about the human mind and the relational world in which it functions. Part II takes the reader on a journey through the evolutionary history of the "average expectable" or "good-enough" environment. A 4-million-year-old landscape is revealed, filled with the wrenching dilemmas that human children have faced since our earliest hominid ancestors began dealing with the conflict, mutuality, and deception that are part of the normal family matrix. The authors discuss how our intricate inner psychodynamic system may have evolved to guide the ongoing negotiation and renegotiation of the self in this ambiguous, inherently conflicted relational world in which our minds are powerfully constructed within the family and larger culture by others whose interests inevitably diverge from our own. Positing psychoanalytic theories as a set of attempts to grasp pieces of this evolved, inner adaptive system, chapters in Part III illustrate how each theory captures separate facets, but fails to envision the overarching, adaptive challenges and continuing functional requirements that shape the whole. Part IV concentrates on the clinical process, discussing the adaptive functions of transference, repetition, and resistance, as well as the ambiguities of empathy and the creation of an alliance that takes into account the patient's inclusive self-interest. Rounding out the volume, the final chapter reexamines each of the major dimensions in which the existing psychoanalytic traditions clash and proposes a framework for a synthesis that not only incorporates the essential features of their competing views, but also lays the groundwork for a reconciliation of the individualist/collectivist dichotomy in modern Western thought. Reconceptualizing our basic understanding of the boundaries of the individual psyche, this book is enlightening reading for a wide range of clinicians and researchers alike. Providing a comprehensive and accessible schema of comparative psychoanalytic models, it also serves as a text for advanced courses in psychoanalysis, psychology, biology, social science, and philosophy.