Merging and Emerging: A Nonlinear Portrait of Intersubjectivity During Psychotherapy

Abstract

When psychoanalysis is conceived intersubjectively, full engagement between therapist and patient creates an emergent, indivisible whole. The coupled therapist/patient system takes on a life of its own to operate beyond reductive analysis. This paper offers a detailed clinical case in order to illustrate five key principles from the perspective of nonlinear dynamics: (a) A nonlinear relationship exists between diagnosis and treatment, when symptoms shift with treatment and diagnosis emerges out of it; (b) the intersubjective field is a complex web of feedback loops continually operating on multiple time scales and descriptive levels; (c) the coupled therapist/patient system self-organizes implicitly toward the edge of chaos; (d) at the fertile edge of chaos, novelty and greater system complexity emerge spontaneously; and (e) core therapist/patient dynamics are expressed as recursive, fractal pattern.As the methods, research, and paradigm of nonlinear dynamics slowly infuse through the social sciences, a rich body of theoretical and clinical literature accumulates within psychoanalysis Tyson, 2005). Nonlinear science provides a flexible description of how psychotherapy operates on multiple levelsranging from the time scale of milliseconds where subcortical, autonomic processes contribute to conscious "moments of meeting" plus their cascading effects over longer time scales. As a metaframework for psychoanalysis (Seligman, 2005), a nonlinear dynamical approach can unify a multiverse of cultural perspectives, to accommodate diverse schools of thought within a nonauthoritarian context (see Marks-Tarlow, 2008b). The holistic nature of the paradigm counteracts reductionist divisions and Descartian splits, helping to marry the art of psychoanalysis with its science while unifying meaning-making endeavors at ever wider descriptive levels.In order to illustrate the utility of a nonlinear perspective, this paper presents a clinical case, which is then analyzed from the perspective of five key nonlinear principles. The case involves

The MATRIX: A deliberate practice approach for clinical supervision in the public sector.

“…The same rational applies to the statements made by the speaker. concepts of shared intersubjectivity (Broucek & Ricci, 1998;Marks-Tarlow, 2011;Mitchell, 2001;Mitchell & Black, 1995).…”

“…They add to the drive-conflict and developmental-arrest combinations the therapist-X-content (e.g., self-disclosure, countertransference enactment), and therapist-X-interrelation (e.g., therapist’s rituals and spontaneity, therapist’s dissociation) combinations (Figure 3). Both combinations are related to the concepts of shared intersubjectivity (Broucek & Ricci, 1998; Marks-Tarlow, 2011; Mitchell, 2001; Mitchell & Black, 1995).…”

Fractal Entanglement Between Observer and Observed

“…Elsewhere (Marks-Tarlow,1999;2002,2008,2011)Ialsodescribetheexistenceoffractalsata moreabstract,symboliclevelinthepsyche.Intheparadoxicalspacebetweenselfandother,fractal dynamicsariseinhumanbehavior,aspersonalitytraitsmanifestinself-similarpatternsevidentat multiplescalesofexistence.Forexample,aggressivepeoplemaypushothersasideverballywith overtalk,pushaheadofothersphysicallyinlinesatthebank,whilepushingtheirneedsaheadof others'insignificantrelationships.Frommicrotomacrolevels,eachinstanceoccursself-similarlyat differentscalesofsocialobservation.Fromthisbriefdescriptionoffractalsastheyoccurnaturally, itbecomesclearthatself-similardynamicsspanthefullrangeofexistence,fromthemostconcrete, materiallevelstothemosthighlyabstractandpsychologicalones.…”

Commentary on Dynamical Systems Therapy: Theory and Practical Applications

“…By contrast, Yakov Shapiro has innovated a practical method for applying nonlinear ideas to psychotherapy. In theory his ideas hold great promise; in practice, more work needs to be done.As a fellow psychoanalytically minded theorist and practitioner highly interested in the relevance of nonlinear science to clinical practice (Marks-Tarlow, 2008, 2011, I am pleased to offer commentary on Yakov Shapiro's paper, "Dynamical Systems Therapy (DST): Theory and Practical Applications." In this second of two offerings for Psychoanalytic Dialogues, Shapiro's paper expands his previously laid-out model into a comprehensive dynamical system of psychotherapy.…”