Structures of Subjectivity Explorations in Psychoanalytic Phenomenology and Contextualism

"[A] provocative and exciting, eclectic collage of hermeneutics, structuralism, psychoanalysis, and phenomenology. The book will be a valuable possession of anyone interested in this movement." - Frederick J. Wertz, Journal of Phenomenological Psychology

"Thirty years since its initial publication, Structures of Subjectivity is a ground-breaking text that continues to inspire and delight. This revised and expanded edition includes four new chapters that detail the evolution of the authors and their ideas, from intersubjectivity to phenomenology and hermeneutics. Stolorow and Atwood have inspired a generation of psychoanalysts to conceive of the clinical situation in new ways and their phenomenological contextualism has become a crucial part of the contemporary psychoanalytic canon. Their sophisticated and humane understanding of how we experience ourselves in the world provides insights into the very nature of psychological existence. This lucid text seamlessly bridges psychoanalytic practice with philosophical reflection and forms a lasting contribution to our field." - Roger Frie, Ph.D. Psy.D., Psychology Professor, Simon Fraser University, and Co-Editor, International Journal of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology

"In this wonderful book, psychoanalysis almost literally comes alive. The objectivist conceptualizations that for so long encased the beating heart of psychoanalytic insight in a stultifying jargon that obscured lived experience is replaced here by a laser focus on the subjectivity of living, breathing human beings. A signal achievement when first published, this new edition illuminates still further and more deeply." - Paul L. Wachtel, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor in Clinical Psychology, CUNY

"Atwood and Stolorow's classic text, Structures of Subjectivity, was a landmark contribution in its first edition, and its second edition, based on four decades of collaboration, is a significant update. This is among the key texts in which the authors introduced and reworked psychoanalysis as an intersubjective psychology. Anyone interested in intersubjectivity, whether in philosophy, psychology, or psychoanalysis, should be familiar with this text which explores intersubjectivity in development, psychopathology, and in clinical psychotherapy. Atwood and Stolorow do not just 'talk the talk,' but 'walk the walk,' exploring their own subjectivity and intersubjectivity as it stimulates their theorizing and clinical practice."- Lewis Aron, Ph.D., Director, New York University Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy & Psychoanalysis.