The End of Comparative Psychoanalysis? Blurring the Boundaries Between Contemporary Theories

Abstract

This article suggests that late 20th and early 21st century research in several academic disciplines is slowly eroding many of the distinctions that once divided contemporary psychoanalytic theorists, such as interpersonal and relational analysts, intersubjective-systems theorists, and self psychologists. The research points to complexity, unpredictability, and randomness in human minds and relationships—now seen by many analysts as nonlinear dynamic systems. The article outlines a few of the historically more divisive concepts and selectively reviews recent research findings that tend to bring the earlier competing theories more closely into alignment.