ABSTRACT
The American Harry Sullivan emphasized loneliness and an ongoing self-system to manage anxiety. His treatment style was profoundly interpersonal, involving many detailed questions during any session. For him, there are always two real people in the room. His theoretical sense of self is created over time through interactions with the providing environment. Ideally, it is flexible enough to continue growing, always holding the tension between the opposing needs of security and excitement.
Among the important contributors to this tradition are Erich Fromm, Clara Thompson, Lewis Aron, Stephen Mitchell, and Philip Bromberg. Among Fromm’s contributions was the book, The Art of Loving, emphasizing the human dread of isolation and the need for loving connection. Thompson maintained that the focus of analysis should be on the present, the between of real life and the between in the consulting room. She also contributed to a new psychology of women. Aron emphasized examining the patient’s direct experience of the analyst and the co-creation of meaning between analyst and patient. Mitchell has written extensively about the whole field and endeavor of psychoanalysis, both theory and practice. His personal style was two-person and subjective, acknowledging that each relationship is unique. He privileged the present over early childhood development and conflict over “mirroring.” Bromberg writes about early relational trauma, which creates dissociation and self-states.
