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My approach in the clinical relationship reflects my training in psychoanalysis, psychodrama and group psychotherapy and is informed by the theories of post-Freudian British Object Relations, including the ideas of Melanie Klein, Wilfred Bion and D.W. Winnicott.
Among other things, these theorists privileged the therapeutic relationship as a “shared emotional experience,” impacting both the patient and the therapist. They looked carefully at the influence of one’s earliest emotional experiences on current adult functioning and emphasized the importance of the unconscious in either shaping or impeding emotional growth, believing that bringing unconscious factors into awareness is an important part of being able to create meaning in one’s life.
From this theoretical perspective, symptoms are looked at not merely as impediments to functioning but as important communications about yet unknown conflicts or deficits. Ultimately, within the context of a caring and empathic therapeutic relationship, formerly unknown and unknowable conflicts may be transformed into a solid foundation for growth and creativity in a patient’s life.
