Interpersonal psychoanalysis

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Part of a series of articles on Psychoanalysis

Constructs Psychosexual development Psychosocial development Conscious • Preconscious • Unconscious Psychic Apparatus Id, ego, and super-ego Libido • Drive Transference • Sublimation • Resistance Important figures Sigmund Freud • Carl Jung Alfred Adler • Otto Rank Anna Freud • Margaret Mahler Karen Horney • Jacques Lacan Ronald Fairbairn • Melanie Klein Harry Stack Sullivan Erik Erikson • Nancy Chodorow Susan Sutherland Isaacs Ernest Jones • Heinz Kohut Important works The Interpretation of Dreams Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis "Beyond the Pleasure Principle" Civilization and Its Discontents Schools of thought Self psychology • Lacanian Analytical psychology • Object relations Interpersonal • Relational Ego psychology

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Interpersonal psychoanalysis is based on the theories of Harry Stack Sullivan, an American psychiatrist who believed that the details of patient's interpersonal interactions with others provided insight into the causes and cures of mental disorder.^[1][2]

Sullivan argued that patients keep many aspects of interpersonal relationships out of their awareness by selective inattention. He felt that it is important for psychotherapists to conduct a detailed inquiry into patient's interactions with others so that patients would become optimally aware of their interpersonal patterns.

Unlike classical psychoanalysts, interpersonal analysts focus on asking patients detailed questions about their moment-to-moment interactions with others, including the analyst.

[edit] See also

• Interpersonal psychotherapy
• Family therapy
• Relationship counseling
• Transactional analysis

[edit] References