Partial profile · Book Profile — full narrative profile planned
A Relational Psychoanalytic Approach to Couples Psychotherapy
A relational psychoanalytic model for couples therapy that operationalizes three core themes—self-actualization, mutual recognition, and the relationship having a mind of its own—through a six-step, non-linear therapeutic process.
A profile of this book is on the way.
What it’s about
This book offers practitioners a novel, comprehensive relational psychoanalytic framework for couples therapy, integrating ideas from relational psychoanalysis, family systems theory, and complexity theory. Author Philip Ringstrom presents a six-step, non-linear model built around three core themes: the actualization of self-experience, the capacity for mutual recognition, and the concept of the relationship having a mind of its own. Through detailed theoretical discussion and rich case material, the book guides therapists in fostering hope, navigating disparate realities, exploring developmental histories, working through enactments, and enriching each partner's capacity for introspection and mutual support, ultimately providing a path for couples to negotiate differences and deepen their connection.
The through-line
- Who it’s for
- A therapist or psychoanalytic practitioner who works with couples and wants a more comprehensive, contemporary, and deeply relational model to guide their practice. They feel that existing models are either too focused on systems without enough depth psychology, or too focused on the individual intrapsychic world without adequately addressing the dyadic system.
- The problem
- Couples present with intractable conflicts, locked in repetitive cycles of blame and misunderstanding, seemingly unable to hear each other or find a way forward. The therapist feels stuck, helpless, or pulled into taking sides, struggling to hold the complexity of two conflicting subjective realities and unsure how to foster genuine change and connection.
- The plan
- Grasp the three core theoretical themes: self-actualization, mutual recognition, and the relationship having a mind of its own.
- Follow the Six-Step model to guide the therapeutic process, from initial attunement to fostering intersubjective negotiation.
- Learn to act as a 'third' by embracing perspectival realism and modeling mutual recognition.
- Understand and work through unconscious enactments to uncover dissociated self-states within each partner.
- Facilitate both intrasubjective and intersubjective negotiation to help couples build a more resilient and creative relationship.
- The payoff
- The therapist feels more confident, competent, and creative in their work with couples. · They can hold complex and conflicting realities without getting stuck or taking sides. · They successfully guide couples from states of mutual negation to states of mutual recognition and renewed intimacy.
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