Psychoanalytic psychotherapy for couples: notes for an intersubjective approach

In this work the author highlights some theoretical and methodological points of the relational and intersubjectivist approach and proposes its application to couples' treatments. What happens in the session is observed in its aspects of constitution in the here and now of the current relationship, as well as as as an update of deficient and traumatic aspects belonging to the partners. The affections that emerge can, in fact, be better understood and treated as emerging emotional states reactivated by the relationship co-created by the participants in the triadic relationship, in a perspective that aims to enhance the transformative potential. A comparison is also proposed between the more traditional psychoanalytic approach to couple therapy, that of object relations, and a treatment inspired by relational and intersubjective psychoanalysis.