A Spirit of Inquiry

Thoroughly grounded in contemporary developmental research, A Spirit of Inquiry: Communication in Psychoanalysis explores the ecological niche of the infant-caregiver dyad and examines the evolutionary leap that permits communication to take place concurrently in verbal an nonverbal modes.nbsp; Via the uniquely human capacity for speech, the authors hold, intercommunication deepens into a continuous process of listening to, sensing into, and deciphering motivation-driven...
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Thoroughly grounded in contemporary developmental research, A Spirit of Inquiry: Communication in Psychoanalysis explores the ecological niche of the infant-caregiver dyad and examines the evolutionary leap that permits communication to take place concurrently in verbal an nonverbal modes.nbsp; Via the uniquely human capacity for speech, the authors hold, intercommunication deepens into a continuous process of listening to, sensing into, and deciphering motivation-driven messages.nbsp;nbsp;The analytic exchange is uniquenbsp;owing to a broad communicative repertoire that encompasses all the permutations of day-to-day exchanges.nbsp; It is the spirit of inquiry that endows suchnbsp;communicative moments with an overarching sense of purpose and thereby permits analysis to become an intimate relationship decisively unlike any other.
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In elucidating the special character ofnbsp;this relationship, the authors refine their understanding of motivational systems theory by showing how exploration, previously conceptualized as a discrete motivational system, simultaneously infuses all the motivational systems with an integrative dynamic that tends to a cohesive sense of self.nbsp; Of equal note is their discerning use of contemporary attachment reseach, which provides convincing evidence of the link between crucial relationships and communication.
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Replete with detailed case studies that illustrate both the context and nature of specific analytic inquiries, A Spirit of Inquiry presents a novel perspective, sustained by empirical research, for integrating the various communicative modalities that arise in any psychoanalytic treatment.nbsp; The result is a deepened understanding of subjectivity and intersubjectivity in analytic relationships.nbsp; Indeed, the book is a compelling brief for the claim that subjectivity and intersubjectivity, in their full complexity, can only be understood through clinically relevant andnbsp;scientifically credible theories of motivation and communication.nbsp;