Extending Sullivan's Interpersonalism

Follow the Fox: Edgar A. Levenson’s Pursuit of Psychoanalytic Process

“…"The therapist, as an extension of Sullivan's participant-observer, becomes a total participant and an observer of his own experience of participation" (Levenson 1972, p. 215, italics in original). This "extension" of Sullivan's position is an entirely new formulation, one in which Levenson relinquishes the moorings of objectivity (Hirsch 1992). The central datum of study is no longer the patient (whether the patient's drives, defenses, or structure), but the structured interaction of patient and analyst.…”

“…Like Sullivan, Levenson situates motive in the interpersonal context rather than in endogenous drive, drive derivative, fantasy, or other internal process. He extends Sullivan's interpersonalism (Hirsch 1992), however, shifting from a positivist operational framework to one grounded in modern linguistic and pragmatic philosophy. Interaction is not simply valued as observable; it is part of a fundamental structure of signification, somewhat similar to Lacan's (following de Saussure's) use of langue as the fundamental structure of organizing experience.…”

“…He emphasizes deconstruction (the breakdown of sense making) in response to the valorization of interpretation, understanding, and technique that he finds prevalent in diverse psychoanalytic perspectives. Hirsch (1992) notes the seeming incompatibility of the two positions, and conjectures that if Levenson were identified as aligning with one position, he would probably make a case for being aligned with the other. This is the fox in action, and it exemplifies a stance that Levenson takes in relation to psychoanalytic understanding-an active position in relation to theorizing that constitutes part of his continuing relevance.…”

The Interpersonal and Freudian Traditions: Convergences and Divergences

“…The idea of mystification is central to Levenson (Hirsch 1992). The patient makes an unconscious agreement to selectively ignore painful aspects of relationships with important others, setting up repetitive patterns of conflicted relationships.…”

Dissociation and the Interpersonal Self

“…Racker's concurrent countertransference is exemplified in what later interpersonalists (e.g., Edgar Levenson, 1972) reworked into a kind of observing-participation; the analyst participates in the patient's transference by living-out with the patient, facsimiles of the patient's formative and basic relational configurations. His radical interpersonalism is the logical extension of Sullivan's participant-observation (Hirsch, 1992b).…”