Psychoanalysis, Object relations (Psychoanalysis), Object attachment, Psychoanalytic Theory 

Examines the theories of Freud, Sullivan, Fromm, Jacobson, and other psychologists regarding interpersonal relationships. Editorial Reviews Review A most valuable contribution to the psychoanalytic literature. The authors have undertaken to review all of the psychoanalytic theories concerning object relationships, comparing and contrasting the 'classical' theory with derivatives of it and the important theories which have arisen in opposition to it...It increases the value of the book to readers at all levels that they have elected to make their reviews of the various theories quite full, so that it is possible really to learn something about each theory in some depth...The authors have considered each position from the point of view of its internal logic, correspondence to the clinical data, and how well it seems to answer the problems which it set out to solve...This is a splendid book. (Adrienne Applegarth International Journal of Psycho-Analysis) We are...fortunate that we have the likes of Greenberg and Mitchell to provide us with a first-class study in comparative psychoanalysis to help us keep our minds open. The authors summarize the contributions of Sigmund Freud, H. S. Sullivan, Erich Fromm, Melanie Klein, W. R. D. Fairbairn, D. W. Winnicott, Harry Guntrip, Heinz Hartmann, Margaret Mahler, Edith Jacobson, Otto Kernberg, Heinz Kohut, and Joseph Sandler, organizing these presentations around the particular visions of object relations each has offered...This is a splendid book for several reasons. Its intent embodies the best attitudes in psychoanalysis, and its execution is very sophisticated and instructive. It certainly deserves your study. (Jeffrey J. Andresen, M.D. Contemporary Psychiatry) That the neo-Freudians and the British object-relations theorists emphasize relationships is well known. What is not well known, and what constitutes Greenberg and Mitchell's special contribution, is the idea that accounting for relationships may be a defining task of all psychoanalytic theorizing and that the various theories can usefully be categorized, contrasted, and understood in terms of their particular strategies for doing so...Greenberg and Mitchell's book provides access to this difficult literature. Their discussions of the various psychoanalytic theories are scholarly, convincing, and packed with clever connections and intriguing observations...[The book] provides a long-sought path through the thicket of psychoanalytic writing. (Daniel B. Wile Contemporary Psychology) Presenting the material in admirable clarity, [the authors] provide an excellent overview of the major forces in current psychoanalytic theory as well as connecting those forces to sociological and cultural concepts in a creative way. Highly recommended. (Library Journal) About the Author Mitchell is a Training and Supervising Analyst, William Alanson White Institute; Faculty, New York University Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis.