“Crunches,” “(K)nots,” and Double Binds—When What Isn't Happening Is the Most Important Thing: Commentary on Paper by Barbara Pizer

A Relational Intersubjective Approach to Conjoint Treatment

“…Frequently, this resistance takes form in the obfuscation of meaning-making (B. Pizer, 2003;Ringstrom, 2003). I have found that, at such times, it is important to stop talking to each partner directly and to instead "speak" more to their relationship as if to a "mindful entity" itself.…”

A Crisis in the Subjectivity of the Analyst: The Trauma of Morality

“…I also felt that I was an object in my own gaze as I watched myself from outside of myself, struggling to come to terms with the facts. I was deeply embroiled in the kind of impasse described by Pizer (2003), Ringstrom (2003), and many others. I felt the numbness of the vicarious traumatization that exposure to human cruelty brings.…”

Commentary on Donna Orange's, “Recognition as: Intersubjective Vulnerability in the Psychoanalytic Dialogue”

“…In other words, part of recognizing something about a patient may entail recognizing something about herself that lends not only to the dialogical processes of "mutual regulation" but also to those of "mutual perception." 5 By contrast, I find Sander's (1995) and the Boston Change Process Study Group's (2002) work as very resonant with processes of recognition that emerges in play, or what I refer to as improvisation (Ringstrom, 1999(Ringstrom, , 2001a(Ringstrom, , 2001b(Ringstrom, , 2003(Ringstrom, , 2004(Ringstrom, , 2007a(Ringstrom, , 2007b(Ringstrom, , 2008a(Ringstrom, , 2008b(Ringstrom, , 2010a(Ringstrom, , 2010b(Ringstrom, , 2010c(Ringstrom, , 2010d. These processes involve "mucking around" (Stern, 2004;Nabaum, 2008) or "flummoxing" (as I put it)-none of which are about "generosity" or even necessarily "self-expressiveness" (although that certainly can be involved).…”

“…It is here that I have proposed that models of improvisation (Ringstrom, 2001a(Ringstrom, , 2001b(Ringstrom, , 2003(Ringstrom, , 2004(Ringstrom, , 2007a(Ringstrom, , 2007b(Ringstrom, , 2008a(Ringstrom, , 2008b(Ringstrom, , 2010a(Ringstrom, , 2010b(Ringstrom, , 2010c(Ringstrom, , 2010d can be useful in breaking out of the grip of mutual inductive processes and in truly finding innovative ways of explicating the heretofore unformulated.…”

“…9 As one example, I have argued (Ringstrom, 2001a(Ringstrom, , 2001b(Ringstrom, , 2003(Ringstrom, , 2004(Ringstrom, , 2007a(Ringstrom, , 2007b(Ringstrom, , 2008a(Ringstrom, , 2008b(Ringstrom, , 2010b(Ringstrom, , 2010c(Ringstrom, , 2010d) that being improvisational in psychoanalytic treatment involves a quality of engagement that is an alternative to psychoanalysis' history of making interpretations-the sine quo non of treatment. Improvisation is a seriously playful means to illuminating what has been heretofore unimaginable in the work of some patients, especially ones who are vulnerable to reverting to rigidified scripts of self and other in the service of insuring their safety.…”