Couple Stories

This book presents the application of key psychoanalytic concepts in thinking about the dynamics in the couple relationship. The contributions to the first part, mainly theory, discuss how different psychoanalytic ideas can be used in conceptualizing the nature of couple interaction. In the second part, on clinical practice, four couples tell their stories during their clinical sessions.
Couple Stories conveys a lively experience of the couple's relationships as these occur in the consulting room and there are several commentaries for each 'couple story'. Commentaries explore the concepts described in the earlier part of the book, as well as clinical themes that couples bring to their sessions and the difficulties that they have encountered in the course of their relationship. Commentaries also provide an insight into how psychoanalytic couple therapists think about the clinical material, what they might select as a focus, and how they may go about developing a hypothesis about the nature of the relationship between the partners.

Aleksandra Novakovic is a Psychoanalyst and Couple Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist. She was a Consultant Clinical Psychologist in the Adult Psychology Service, and Joint Head of the Inpatient & Community Psychology Service. She worked at Tavistock Relationships and taught and supervised Couple Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Training. She teaches for the British Psychoanalytic Association, and supervises on the Tavistock Foundation Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Course and on the IGA Diploma Course in Reflective Practice in Organizations. She co-edited with David Bell a book on psychotic processes (2013, Karnac), and edited Couple dynamics: psychoanalytic perspectives in work with the individual, the couple, and the group (2016, Karnac). Marguerite Reid is a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist who has more recently trained as a Couple Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist. She co-founded the Perinatal Service at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, where she specialized in perinatal mental health problems. Her doctoral research was in the area of perinatal loss and the mother's experience when she gives birth to the next baby. She is a Visiting Clinician at Tavistock Relationships. She has taught in the UK and abroad and co-founded the Infant Observation course in Izmir, Turkey. She has published in the area of perinatal mental health, and now works in private practice in London.

Series Editor's Preface David Scharff Introduction Part One Chapter 1: "As my shriveled heart expanded": the Dynamics of Love, Hate, and Generosity in the Couple Aleksandra Novakovic Chapter 2: Oedipus Killed the Couple: Murder on the Thebes Highway Viveka Nyberg Chapter 3: Projective Identification Processes in the Couple Relationship Mary Morgan Chapter 4: On the Container-Contained Dynamics in the Couple Relationship David Hewison Part Two: Couple Stories and Clinical Commentaries Chapter 5: Marco and Rosa Couple Story Co-therapy, Containment, and the Couple A Clinical Commentary for Marco and Rosa Christopher Clulow Finding a Story A Clinical Commentary for Marco and Rosa Joanna Rosenthall Projective Identification: Rivalry, Competition, and Exclusion A Clinical Commentary for Marco and Rosa Stanley Ruszczynski Narcissism and Loss of a Shared Ideal, Oedipal Exclusion, and Sibling Transference, Affecting a Couple State of Mind A Clinical Commentary for Marco and Rosa Jill Savege Scharff Chapter 6: Peter and Helen Couple Story Over the Hill to Oedipus A Clinical Commentary for Peter and Helen Andrew Balfour Facing Death: Mourning and Reparation in a Late Middle-Aged Couple A Clinical Commentary for Peter and Helen Warren Colman Therapy: Anxieties, Defences, and the Couple A Clinical Commentary for Peter and Helen Susan Irving Couples Come in Twos and Threes: an Oedipal Perspective A clinical commentary for Peter and Helen Molly Ludlam Chapter 7: Daniel and Caroline Couple Story Containment and the Couple A Clinical Commentary for Daniel and Caroline Eve Ashley Oedipal Dynamics and the "White Heat" of the Session A Clinical Commentary for Daniel and Caroline Brett Kahr Shared Couple Defences against Anxiety A clinical commentary for Daniel and Caroline Monica Lanman Trauma, the First Born, and the Oedipal Situation A Clinical Commentary for Daniel and Caroline Sara Leon Chapter 8: Greg and Lottie Couple Story Anxieties and Defences A Clinical Commentary for Greg and Lottie Susanna Abse "The Fog and the Shadows of the Past" A Clinical Commentary for Greg and Lottie Pierre Benghozi Oedipal Dynamics and the Couple A Clinical Commentary for Greg and Lottie Peter Griffiths Containment and the Couple A Clinical Commentary for Greg and Lottie Patsy Ryz Epilogue